City Shadows
by Zephyros-Phoenix
Summary: Sequel to Apple, DragoxOC, OCxOC. After the events in San Francisco, Mala leaves for Los Angeles and goes back to school to start over. However, the peace she hoped for is far from near when she discovers her classmate is a demon! Soon Mala is dragged into a wild adventure with new friends and the Dark Chi Wizard Daolon Wong all while dealing Drago's return.
1. New Student

**Well it's here! The sequel to my JCA story and the next installment of Mala's adventures! Yay! Now, this story is a collaboration, meaning that it is being made and written by myself and my partner Dingo-Sniper. This story brings our two groups of character together for what we hope to be an awesome adventure that you'll all enjoy reading.**

**In case you need it, here is some quick information of D-Sniper's characters:**

**-Linos: hybrid son of Shadow Demon Sorcerer Tzan Ren and Sound Demon Sorceress Hsian Ji, likes humans and their culture, hunts evil demons, alias Liam  
-Tim Knight: Linos' best friend and the first to know his secret, very smart, hacker  
-Mavis Callahan: Linos' LI, mythology and supernatural nut, easily excitable and eccentric**

**I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures, only my characters. D-Sniper owns his character and we both own this story and it's plot. **

* * *

The bell rang as the mass of students flooded into classrooms, each taking their seat as their day of classes began. Two boys sat in the row of desks next to the window as a girl with short orange hair in cute, low pigtails sat down behind them.

"So guys, did you hear about what happened in San Francisco?" she asked as they turned around in their seats to face her.

"Of course we have, Mavis, it's all everyone at school's been talking about!" replied the boy sitting in front of her. He had light brown hair that came down to just above his shoulders and wore blue glasses.

"Well Tim, everyone keeps saying that it was a meteor shower, but I don't buy it! What do you think Liam?" she asked the boy sitting in front of Tim.

"Mavis is right," Liam started.

"Yes!" Mavis exclaimed with an energetic fist pump as Liam continued speaking.

"I saw some of the footage from the news and there's no way a meteor shower caused that much damage. And I did feel a strong disturbance around the same time it all happened."

"Disturbance? Like a magical disturbance?" Tim asked.

"Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't natural. If I had to bet, I would say a demon was responsible."

"You don't think any demons would be coming here, do you?" asked Tim.

"Because that would be awesome," Mavis interjected.

"No, Mavis, it really wouldn't."

"Hm, it's tough to say. From what I could see, it didn't look like any demons made it out of the city; otherwise, there would be a trail of destruction for us to follow. But I suggest we keep an eye out for anything suspicious just in case."

"Class, settle down! Settle down!" the teacher called as the classroom chatter hushed into a silence. "All right, students, today we have a new student joining our class. Please welcome Mala Reid!" the teacher held out her hand and waved to signal the new student to enter the classroom. In walked a pale-skinned girl with long brown hair and dark red eyes. When she reached the center of the front of classroom, she timidly tucked a strand of her hair behind her right ear before shyly clutching the books in her arms. "Don't be shy. Introduce yourself!" encouraged the teacher.

"Uh, well, I'm Mala… Mala Reid, but you already knew that," she nervously added.

"Anything else?" the teacher asked.

"No, that's it!" Mala insisted.

"Well, all right then. Take a seat at the back next to Mavis," the teacher instructed.

Mala scanned the back of the room trying to find this "Mavis" that the teacher neglected to point out to her, but Mala was saved from further awkwardness when the pigtailed girl ecstatically waved her arms. Mala swiftly made her way to the back of the classroom and took the empty seat next to Mavis as the teacher began her lesson.

"Hi!" Mavis whispered loudly, "I'm Mavis Callahan!"

"Oh, hello," Mala timidly answered, surprised by Mavis suddenly talking. "I'm Mala, nice to meet you." Mavis stuck out her hand as Mala gently took it as they shook.

"So what's your schedule like?" Mavis asked, seizing Mala's schedule before she could even answer. "Awesome, we have almost every class together!" she exclaimed.

"Miss Callahan, need I remind you that there is no talking during class?" the teacher asked.

"Sorry," Mavis muttered, handing Mala's schedule back to her. When class finally ended, the students flooded out of the room into the hallways. "I'll see you guys at lunch!" Mavis shouted to Liam and Tim as they left for their class in the opposite direction. "Hey, Mala, wait up!"

Mala stopped when she heard her name being called. "Oh, hi Mavis, so we have biology together right?" she asked, pulling out her schedule.

"Yeah, it's right down the hall," Mavis replied, pointing with her finger to a classroom ahead of them. "So what school did you go to before here?"

"Uh, I actually dropped out of school a couple years back after my dad died. I needed to work to make money for rent and everything."

"Whoa, what about your mom?" Mavis asked.

"My mom? Oh, well she left us a long time ago. I haven't seen her since," Mala lamented.

"Oh… that sucks," Mavis said sadly. "So where'd you live before you came here?"

"San Francisco," Mala answered.

"You lived in San Francisco?!" Mavis gasped dramatically.

"Uh… yes?"

"Then did you know what happened when the whole city nearly got destroyed? The news reports keep saying it was a 'meteor shower'," she said in a mocking tone with air quotes, "but I don't buy it!"

"Um, no. Sorry I don't know anything about it. I left the city a few days before it happened."

"Aw…" Mavis said sadly. "So why did you come to L.A.? Wait, am I asking too many questions? I've been told I can be a bit eccentric."

Mala chuckled. "No, it's all right. I guess I'm just not used to the attention. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up."

"Well, I find that hard to believe! You're doing a great job at it! So if you don't mind me asking, why'd you leave San Francisco?"

"I uh, just needed some distance. I got into a fight with my, uh, boyfriend and we broke up."

"Oooh, what happened?"

"Well, I thought we wanted the same thing, but it turned out that we wanted very different things. He just wasn't the person I used to know and I couldn't forgive him for lying to me."

"Ouch, what'd he lie about?"

"I'd actually prefer not to get into that. Is that all right, Mavis?"

"Of course! Well, Mala, you may be the fresh meat here and you may not have had a lot of friends at your old school, but you've got one now!" Mavis exclaimed gleefully while wrapping her arm affectionately around Mala's neck.

"Thanks, Mavis. That really means a lot," she replied with a light chuckle.

"And two more when we get to lunch!"

"What do you mean?" Mala asked.

"Oh, Tim and Liam, the two guys sitting in front of me back in our first class. You'll meet them when we have lunch together."

The next few classes progressed quickly and Mala and Mavis made their way to the cafeteria as quickly as they could. Apparently the cafeteria was serving pizza, which according to Mavis was one of the few good things the school served. "We have to get their early," she had insisted, "otherwise all the good slices will be gone!"

"So, where do you guys usually sit?" Mala asked as she scanned the full cafeteria. "It doesn't look like there's a lot of room left."

"Yeah, we don't usually sit in here. It's far too loud and the school bullies always come over to make fun of the nerds and, well, me."

"What? Why would they make fun of you?"

"Around here, they call me 'Crazy Mavy'. It's actually quite clever if you ask me. But the reason for that is because I'm a bit of a mythology nut. Dragons, monsters, spirits, you name it! Oh and demons too!"

"D-demons?" Mala asked nervously.

"Yeah! You know what happened in San Francisco? I'm betting it was demons and not a stupid meteor shower like everyone keeps saying," she whispered seriously.

"Mavis, you really are crazy," Mala said sarcastically with a light chuckle.

"I know!" she chirped. "Come on, we usually eat out here by the football field." Mavis led her to the large football field right outside the cafeteria and she could see two boys sitting on the bleachers with lunch trays next to them. "Hey guys!" Mavis greeted.

"Hey Mavis! Ah, I see you brought the new girl! Mala, right?" Liam asked.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you two," Mala replied.

"Tim," Tim introduced as he and Mala shook hands.

"Tim," Mala repeated so she would remember, "and…"

"Liam," he finished. Just as their hands met to shake, both of their eyes widened and they quickly pulled away. Liam jumped back and pulled Mavis and Tim along with him, spilling their trays of food onto the bleachers.

"Liam, what'd you do that for?" Mavis whined.

"Yeah, what gives?" Tim asked.

Liam didn't answer. Instead his eyes locked with Mala, who met his gaze with an equally serious and intense one. "Get back, guys! Our new classmate is a demon!"

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**Well, that was the first chapter of many more to come! Stay tuned if you want more!**

**Next Chapter - Throwdown: Mala and Linos engage in battle, believing each other to be an evil demon. **

**Cheers, ZP**


	2. Throwdown

**Yay! Another chapter! I certainly hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. I'm certainly enjoying writing. If you want to know more about Linos, Mavis and Tim, I do suggest reading Dingo-Sniper's story "Two Sides of the Same Coin". It can be found on his deviantart page under his username "Dingo-Sniper". It' not mandatory, but if you want to get a better idea of D-Sniper's crew, I highly recommend it. Plus, this is like a joint sequel to both our stories anyway. **

**As usual, I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures, only my characters. Linos, Mavis and Tim belong to Ding-Sniper. **

**Also, just a note on timeline. Since the original show ran from 2000-05 for 5 season, D-Sniper and I are going along the basis that each season took place within a year. By that we mean, season 1 took place in 2000, season 2 in 2001, and so on. So, since this is just after when season 5 would have occurred, this story is set in 2005. **

* * *

"Get back, guys! Our new classmate is a demon!" Liam yelled as he gently pushed his friends behind him and held his arms out to the side, protectively shielding them.

"What? That's crazy!" cried Mavis.

"How can you tell?" Tim asked.

"I can sense when demons are near, but when they're in a human disguise, it shields their demonic aura. But if I happen to make physical contact with them," Liam explained, eyeing Mala suspiciously, "my sense bypasses that shield. The only thing is it works both ways."

"I can't believe this. This was supposed to be just a normal school with normal people all… normal!" Mala despaired.

"How did you find me? Are you here to avenge my father?" Liam asked.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Of course you don't!" Liam shot his hand forward, sending out a shadow tendril towards Mala. She brought her arms up to block the attack, but the force of the blow knocked her back onto the bleachers.

"Liam, wait! She doesn't even look like a demon!" Mala protested, grabbing Liam's arm.

"Neither do I," he argued.

"Liam has a point. Demons can assume human form and he has the ability to sense nearby ones," Tim added.

"But she's my new best friend! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a best girlfriend in this school who's okay with all of this?" Mavis shouted, gesturing to herself.

All of a sudden before Liam could answer, he was thrown back with an incredible force and slammed right into the railings on the side of the bleachers. Mavis and Tim turned to see a large light pink, crystal rabbit with bright red eyes standing before them, its large paw extended out right where Liam just stood a few seconds ago.

"I think that just about proves it," Tim added. They looked around the rabbit and saw Mala standing up, her entire body being encased in dark purple, dark blue, pink and teal crystalline armour. Her skin turned pale blue, her hair turned white and formed into a long, floating ponytail as he eyes grew larger and glowed the same menacing red that Liam's did.

"Oh, that is awesome," Mavis breathed. Tim grabbed the hood of her sweater as they ran across the bleachers to their friend, who lay slouched against the railing. The metal railing of the bleachers was bent all the way out from the force of Liam's impact, but Liam himself was unharmed.

"Come on, big guy," Tim heaved, lifting Liam to his feet with Mavis.

"She means business. Time to take this up a notch!" Black shadows consumed him as Liam transformed into his demon form. His skin was brown and he stood nearly half a head taller than in his human form. His hair grew wild and changed to dark brown as two little horns sprouted from his head. His ears became long and pointed as his chest, shoulders, forearms and waist became covered in light armour. Large light brown wings sprouted from his back. "Stay back, guys," he said, his voice much deeper with a noticeable flanging effect, "I'll take care of this demon." Linos dashed forward to engage the crystal rabbit and Mala.

"Aw, he gets all the fun," Mavis complained, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Crazy Mavy," Tim teased, dragging her off the bleachers and away from the football field.

Linos folded his wings around his body to shield himself from the rabbit's swift punches. He quickly opened them, knocking the rabbit off its feet. He wrapped a shadow tendril around its ankle and spun, flinging the rabbit off into the distance.

"Pearl!" Mala shouted, watching her rabbit soar.

"Now that your little guardian's out of the way, we can settle this fairly!"

"I wasn't aware demons cared about fair odds. It was my understanding that demons took whatever advantage they could, the more unfair the better! And Pearl will make it back to me; she always does. But she's not my only guardian." Mala waved her hands as five light blue, crystal wolves formed alongside her.

"Ooh, she can make wolves!"

Linos looked to his right and saw Mavis peeking out from behind a nearby tree. "Mavis!" he chided.

"Sorry!"

The wolves charged on him while he was distracted, though he managed to fight them off. Linos opened his mouth wide and let out a sonic scream, shattering the wolves into little pieces. Seeing this, Mala quickly took to the skies to avoid being hit by the scream herself.

Linos took off after her and tried to get in close, but Mala conjured wave after wave of crystal shards that she fired at him. He avoided each one, but made no progress in getting closer to her. Mala waved her hands again, this time summoning her purple crystal crows. They took off in different directions and struck Linos one after another. He tried to open his mouth and destroy them with a scream, but each time he was about to let it out, another crow would dive in and strike him. Instead, he formed twin shadow blades in his hands and sliced the crystal crows as they dove onto him.

"That all you got?" he taunted. He flew to with his swords to Mala as she floated over the gym. He slashed her with his swords, but her entire body suddenly turned into blue crystal and shattered before him. "What the?"

Linos had no time to finish his thought when Mala dove from high up right behind him and kicked him in the back, sending him plummeting to the ground and through the gym roof. He landed roughly on the gym floor, splintering the wood and creating a large impact crater. Mala came through the hole he made in the roof and landed softly on the floor.

"Why? Why can't you demons just leave me alone?" she shouted.

"Leave you alone? I've had demons gunning for me since I got here! You're the ones who won't leave me alone!" Linos argued.

"I didn't come here for you! I didn't even know you were a demon until we shook hands!"

"I find that hard to believe!" Linos wrapped his shadow tendrils around Mala and tossed her through the wall. She narrowly missed the few students in the hallway she tumbled through, destroying parts of the ceiling and floor before she finally came to a stop. Linos glided through the hallway after her, but crashed right into the crystal wall she formed between them. "Clever," he muttered, bringing out his twin shadow blades.

"I certainly thought so," Mala replied, extending her crystal claws. Their weapons clashed time and time as students around them evacuated the school, taking care to avoid the two fighting demons while also trying their best to capture the event on their phones.

The two clashed a final time before freezing when they heard the familiar sound of sirens. "Cops!" they both cried.

"I can't go through all of this again! I have to get out of here!" Mala wailed.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Yes, I am," she answered, before suddenly disappearing from his sight.

He looked around sporadically, but saw no sign of her. "Dammit!" he cursed before disappearing into the shadows to find Tim and Mavis. He finally found them far off from the crowd of their fellow students who had been gathered in the field next to the school parking lot, the school's designated emergency meeting zone. He came out of the shadow's behind one of the cars in the parking lot, well out of sight, before running up to Mavis and Tim.

"So what happened? Where's Mala?" asked Mavis.

"She bailed as soon as the cops showed up. It was like she just turned invisible. I would've thought she'd just tear through them; demons don't retreat, especially not from humans."

"Ooooh, she can turn invisible?" Mavis cried, her eyes widening in amazement.

"Mavis, focus. That does sound more like something a human would do. Do you know where she went?" Tim asked.

"No, either she's out of range or she's back in her human form. Either way, I can't pick her up," Liam answered.

"I still can't believe this. I finally get a best girlfriend and she turns out to be a demon… and you chase her away!" Mavis shouted.

"What? Mavis, she was a demon!"

"Well, so are you! Besides, we all know how excellent a judge of character I am. Remember when I knew something was up the minute your dad tried to pass himself off as you?"

"She does have a point," Tim said.

"You're not helping, Tim."

"Just hear me out. I spent the whole day with her and honestly, she didn't seem demonic. If anything, she was scared and paranoid, and very nervous about fitting it."

"Mavis…" Liam groaned.

"You know, she may have a point."

"Don't encourage her, Tim," Liam warned.

"Now, now, we both know you're one in a million, Liam. You're a demon, yes, but you're nothing like the Demon Sorcerers or your father. You like humans and you're not violent. Maybe it's not that crazy to consider that there can be two in a million."

"All right," Liam conceded, "so then we track her down and figure out her deal and go from there. And if she turns out to be evil then, well, we all know the drill."

"But how do we find her? Liam can't sense her now and L.A. is a big city!" Mavis exclaimed.

Tim sighed. "You know, sometimes you two just overthink things." Tim took out his laptop, sat on the ground and began typing away.

"What'cha doing?" Mavis asked as he and Liam hunched over Tim's laptop to see what he was doing.

"I'm hacking into the school's system to retrieve her student records. It'll have her personal information and her address. Back when Liam joined the school, I hacked their system to input some information to make his cover story more believable. Annnnnd, here we go! She doesn't live that far from here, in fact."

"Well let's get going," Liam said.

"Wait hold on," Tim said, halting Liam. "Let's take a lot at what else the school has on her. Born June 21st, 1988; father: Jasper Reid, deceased; mother: Lana Reid, contact unavailable."

"Ok, so she was born here and she has parents," Mavis commented. Tim brought up an image of Jasper and Lana. Jasper had short, neat brown hair and dark brown eyes while Lana had long blonde hair, red eyes and pale skin just like Mala's. "Wow, she looks a lot like them."

"They could be adoptive and the information could be falsified," Liam said.

"Yeah but what are the chances she's as good a hacker as me?" asked Tim.

"You realize we were just discussing the possibility of another nice demon, right?" asked Mavis.

"Point taken," Tim said.

"Let's go check out that address. She might try to skip town after this," said Liam. They made their way to the address listed in Mala's school information and found a small apartment building on a small front door was gated and only residents with a key could enter.

"I'm guessing we're not going to buzz?" Mavis asked, pointing to the call button.

"No need." Liam walked up to the gate and formed a small key-shaped shadow in his hand. He moved it into the keyhole and twisted his hand around, trying to shape the shadow key to fit the lock. The gate unlocked with a _click!_ and Liam pulled it open.

"I wish I knew how to pick locks," Mavis muttered as Liam held the door open for her and Tim.

"Ok, this is the one," Tim said as they gathered around the apartment door.

"So, do we just knock?" asked Mavis.

"I guess so," Liam said, knocking on the door three times. A few seconds later they heard the lock click and the door swung open.

Mala gasped and quickly tried to shut the door, but a shadow tendril held it open. "Wh-what are you doing here? How did you find me?" she asked, frighteningly backing away as Liam, Mavis and Tim came through the door.

"Computers," Tim answered.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because you're a demon and I need to know what kind of demon you are." Shadows formed in Liam's hands as Mala's left arm crystallized into her demon form in response.

"Ok, he could have worded that better. What we want to know is: are you a nice demon or a bad demon?" Mavis asked, coming between them.

Pearl suddenly appeared before them, standing protectively in front of Mala as Liam tensed. "She won't attack you unless you try to hurt me, like you did on the bleachers," she said with strong resentment.

"Ok! Cards on the table! Tim and I? Normal humans! Liam? His real name is Linos and he is a demon, but he likes humans and is our friend."

"Mavis!" Liam scolded.

"What? Your way was getting us nowhere! She's not going to trust us if you get all threateny on her!"

"Yeah Liam, just put away the shadow swords right now," Tim agreed. Liam sighed and complied.

"Ok, so I guess our first question is: did you know I'm a demon?" Liam asked.

"No! I never even knew you before today!" Mala answered.

"Then where did you come from?" Tim asked.

"I was born here, on earth. My father was human and my mother is a demon."

"That would make you half-demon and," Liam started.

"Half-human," Mala finished.

"Demon-human hybrids, is that even possible?" Mavis asked.

"I've never met a demon-human hybrid before, but they're not unheard of. Demon Sorcerers don't take kindly to mingling with humans, but that doesn't mean it never happens. And when demons assume a human form, they, uh, get all the 'parts' too," Liam explained.

Mavis and Tim stared at him blankly before suddenly realizing what he meant with a "Oooohh."

"I'm not evil," she swore, "I just want a normal life."

"Wait, you said you came here from San Francisco, right? Did you have anything to do with what happened there?" Tim asked.

"Yes," Mala answered, hanging her head low. "But it's not what you think! Mavis, remember when I was telling you about why I left San Francisco? I got into a fight with my 'boyfriend'? Well, that's the extremely condensed version of it."

"But you helped whatever caused that?" Liam asked.

"Up until that point, yes. But, I was under the impression we were doing it for a different purpose, something good. I went back to stop him before I left the city. What about you? How do I know you're not an evil demon?"

"Duh! I have human friends!" Liam answered, gesturing to Mavis and Tim.

"You attacked me!"

"I thought you were an evil demon!"

"All right, all right!" Mavis shouted. "What Liam is trying to say," she started, shooting him a glare that would rival his own demonic one, "is that he made a mistake and is sorry. Right, Liam?"

Liam sighed and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I judged you because you were a demon and I made a mistake. So I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Mala replied.

"Great, now let's get down to business! The three of us are really nice once you get to know us and we promise we'll keep your secret! Soooooo, will you be our friend?" Mavis asked.

"Huh? Y-you still want me to be your friend after all of this?"

"Might as well. Us 'nice demons' need to stick together," Liam added.

"Yeah! Please, oh please say you'll be our friend. More importantly, please say you'll be my best friend, please please please! You're pretty, nice, cool and the only girl in school who hasn't called me a weirdo or made some snarky remark about how I'm being stupid - which technically I'm not since as well all know, demons are a real thing - but I'm getting off topic. Please say you'll be our friend! We'll be super nice and Liam will never attack you again! Please!" Mavis wailed.

"Ok, ok, all right! I'll be your friend, just stop all of… this," Mala answered.

"Yay! Woohoo! I've got a best friend and she's a demon!" Mavis cheered, taking Mala's hands in hers as she danced around in a circle, dragging Mala along with her.

"Yes, she's always like this," Tim said when Mala sent him an inquisitive and confused look.

"She never cheered like that when she found out I was a demon…" Liam muttered.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it! I had a lot of fun typing out this fight scene and even more fun writing Mavis. Honestly, I think she's our favourite part of the story right now XD**

**Getting to Know You: Mala gets to know her new friends as the group discovers there is more to this mysterious coin that Mavis found a while back than meets the eye.**


	3. Closed for Repairs

**Well here's the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy!**

**I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures. Any canon characters, concepts of events that originally appeared in Jackie Chan Adventures is property of the show's creators. This story and it's characters belong to Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper.**

* * *

Mala almost couldn't remember what happened last night. But after she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she began to recall everything: her demon classmate Linos, their huge fight through the school building and Linos, better known in his human guise as "Liam", coming to her doorstep with his human friends Tim and Mavis and, to her own surprise, becoming friends! She almost couldn't believe that there was another demon out there like her. For so long she thought that Drago was the only other like her - a demon that wasn't like any of the Demon Sorcerers. But clearly, she had been wrong about him.

And as for Linos… He was a full demon, not an ounce of human blood in him. And yet, he liked humans. His two best friends were humans! And as far as Mala could tell, Linos wasn't using any demon magic to influence them. To top it off, the three of them wanted to be her friends! It was almost too good to be true and for a moment, Mala thought it was. She spent the whole night trying to find some loophole or any logical reason that this could be a trick of some kind, but everything seemed to check out. For the most part, there wasn't any reason for her not to trust them.

"Crap!" she cursed, noticing the time. She was late for school and it was only her second day! She decided to skip breakfast to save some time before rushing to her door.

"Hi!" Mala jumped back in surprised when she saw Liam, Mavis and Tim on the other side of her door while Mavis grinned wildly.

"What are you guys doing here? I was just about to head to school. We're going to be late," she fretted.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that," Liam said casually, as he, Tim and Mavis entered her apartment and sat on her couch in the lounge room.

"Why not?" Mala asked, confused.

"Didn't you hear? School's closed!" Mavis grinned wildly.

"What? Why?"

"Why do you think? The two of you did do a lot of property damage to the school. They shut down the whole campus for repairs for two weeks," Tim explained.

"Oh man, I can't believe we nearly destroyed the school! I can't go through this again!" Mala groaned.

"Mala, relax. Nobody got hurt and nobody knows those two demons were us," Liam said. "It'll be fine. It's even better that our demon forms look nothing like our human forms."

"And you don't have to worry about it getting online. I spent all of last night searching for videos, screenshots, any visuals to do with yesterday and erased it all," Tim said proudly.

"What? How?"

"He's like a wizard with computers!" informed Mavis.

"So then if school's closed for two weeks, what do we do?" Mala asked.

"Well, the teachers are emailing out assignment sheets, textbook readings and instructions for us while the school is closed," Tim explained.

"So it's kinda like we still have school, but without being stuck in a boring building for seven hours a day," said Mavis.

"So why did you guys come over here?" Mala asked.

"You're our friend now! Friends hang out," Liam said.

"Oh, ok. So what should we do then?" Mala asked.

"Oh, I know! How about you show us some more of your powers?" Mavis asked, leaning in super close to Mala, forcing the half-demon girl to lean back a bit.

"Uh…"

"Please? Your demon form is so cool and I bet you can do a lot of things with crystals!" she exclaimed, looking at Mala with big, bright eyes.

"Well, I was born with Crystal Demon Chi; it lets me manipulate crystals and anything with a crystalline structure. I can generate crystals from nothing," Mala explained, forming small crystal shards that floated in her palms.

"Cool," Mavis said with wide eyes staring at the crystals. "What about those wolves and birds the other day? And the giant rabbit that punched Liam in the face!"

"I'm right here," Liam commented.

"Oh, those are my sentient crystals."

"Sentient? You mean free-thinking crystals?" asked Tim.

"Yes, like Pearl here. I give them their shape, but they can move and think on their own. Demon Sorcerers can't normally create sentient constructs, but my human half gives me the ability to do it."

"Whoa, Liam can you do anything like that?" Tim asked.

"I doubt it. Full demon over here," he said, casually pointing to himself with his thumb.

"Well, you aren't like other Demon Sorcerers. It's a slim chance, but you might be able to given how much you actually like humans," Mala said. She looked over to Mavis who stared intently at Pearl, who had moved onto Mala's lap as she spoke. "You can touch her if you want."

"Huh?" Mavis' head snapped up. "Oh, sweet." Mavis bit her lip nervously as she slowly reached out to touch the crystal rabbit. "Whoa, she's so smooth! What else can you do?"

"Uh, well I can fly," Mala started.

"Which is cool," interrupted Mavis.

"Hey, I can fly too!" Liam protested.

"Yeah, but your wings are part of your body. She has to make her wings… right?"

"Yes, that's correct. I can also redirect external energy. I, uh, got struck by lightning once in my demon form and I was able to redirect the electrical energy through my body. It still hurt like hell though," she quickly added.

"That is awesome," Mavis chirped.

"So what about you Liam, or Linos, or whatever you wish to be called? What can you do?" Mala asked.

"Liam is human alias, Linos is the name my parents gave me. Well, my father is the Shadow Demon Sorcerer and my mother is the Sound Demon Sorceress, so I've got both of their powers," he answered.

"Tzan Ren and Hsian Ji? So you're a hybrid then?"

"Whoa, how did you know his parents' names?" Tim asked.

"Names of Demon Sorcerers is common knowledge. Every Chi Wizard apprentice is required to know all the demons, their elements and methods of defeat," she explained.

"Chi Wizard apprentices?" Mavis asked, in confusion.

"Chi Wizards are sorcerers who use spells to combat demons and other forces of darkness," Mala said.

"They're basically like the super heroes to Demon Sorcerers," Liam added.

"Ok, first you're a demon and now you're a Chi Wizard? This just keeps getting better!" Mavis exclaimed with a wide grin.

"Well, apprentice technically. Unfortunately, I'm never going to be able to reach the level of Chi Wizard."

"How come?" asked Tim.

"My father was a master Chi Wizard. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be one just like him so he started teaching me. But when we found out my mother was really a demon in disguise, we both realized that I could never be a Chi Wizard."

"I don't get it," Mavis said bluntly.

"The majority of Chi Wizardry is built around the repulsion and/or destruction of demons and other dark forces. Even though Mala has human blood in her and even though she's not evil like other demons, spells won't discriminate. If she were to utilize a spell intended to repel or destroy a demon attacking her, the spell would end up affecting her as well because she is part demon, even if she is the caster," Liam explained.

"Exactly," Mala concurred.

"So almost anything you try to do would end up rebounding on you then?" Tim asked.

"Yes. I was upset when my father told me I couldn't be a Chi Wizard and why, but I got over it a long time ago," Mala said with a small smile. "I still know all the theory though, like spell ingredients and procedures. I even have all of my dad's old spell books."

"Wow… hey, wanna see something cool?" Mavis asked.

"Uh, sure?" Mala answered, unsure. Mavis got up from the couch and stood on the top of the back frame. "What are you-" Mala started asking, just as Mavis began leaning back and fell towards the ground. "Mavis!" Suddenly, at the last second, Mavis flipped onto her hands and feet. "…what?"

"I know right? Cool, huh?" Mavis beamed.

"Should I understand what's going on?" Mala asked Tim and Liam.

"Ok, Mavis, you can stop showing off now," said Liam.

"Yeah, just tell her already," added Tim.

"Spoil sports," she muttered. "Ok, ok, check this out," Mavis dug her hand into glove and pulled out a silver coin, flicking it to Mala who caught it in her hands.

"It's a coin…" Mala commented, "with a cat emblem." Mala held the coin between her thumb and index finger, examining the coin.

"She found it a few months back and hasn't let it out of her sight since," said Tim.

"It's definitely magical. I could sense a magical aura around it the first time I saw it," Liam said.

"He's right, this isn't any ordinary coin," Mala added.

"Yeah, we kinda established that the first time I accidentally used it," Mavis grinned.

"Mobility of the cat," Mala muttered.

"What?" Mavis, Tim and Liam all asked in unison.

"That's what it says here: 'mobility of the cat'," Mala replied, gesturing to the small inscription on the reverse side of the coin.

"Wait, you can read that?" Mavis cried, seizing the coin back to see the inscription for herself.

"Yeah, another thing dad taught me. It seems to me that the inscription on the back side of the coin explains what the coin does."

"Mobility of the cat. It makes sense. Every time Mavis has fallen, she always lands on her feet, kinda like a cat," said Tim.

"Hm, this emblem looks very familiar to me. Hang on a second," Mala stood from the couch and moved to the bookshelf. She scanned the books before pulling one of the thick, leather-bound books off the shelf. She came back to her seat on the couch and lay the book open on the coffee table.

"So which book is this?" Tim asked, adjusting his glasses as he leaned in for a closer look.

"History of magical objects," Mala answered. "Volume 1. Ah, here it is. Looks a lot like this coin, doesn't it?"

Mavis placed the coin on the page next to the image. "They're practically identical! What does it say?"

"Ok, according to this book, there was a Chi Wizard long ago that created thirteen mystical coins in an attempt to recreate the twelve talismans of the zodiac."

"Talimans of the zodiac?" Tim asked.

"A long time ago when demons ruled this world, Shen Du, the Fire Demon Sorcerer was one of the worst. A Chi Wizard by the name of Lo Pei defeated him by turning his body into stone. All of Shen Du's powers manifested themselves as twelve talismans, each holding one of his powers and each emblazoned with the sigil of an animal from the Chinese zodiac," Liam explained.

"That's right," Mala agreed.

"How did you know that, Liam?" asked Mavis.

"Every demon knows the story of Shen Du's greatest defeat."

"Yeah, he may be bad by human standards, but compared to other demons, he's a big wimp," Mala added.

"Hey, didn't he have a kid? Half-human I think? He must be around our age, shouldn't he?" Liam asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't know," Mala said hesitantly. "Anyway, according to this book, a Chi Wizard tried to copy what Lo Pei did to create the Talismans. It wasn't the exact same process, since he didn't have a demon whose powers he could separate, but he did end up with something." Mala flipped the book outward so the others could see the image on the page. "Thirteen mystical coins each emblazoned with an animal sigil and each holding a unique power."

"So, anyone up for starting a coin collection?" Tim asked with a cheeky grin. "You know? A different one from the one that I have?"

"You can't honestly be suggesting that we actually look for the other twelve coins?" Liam asked.

"It's crazy… I love it!" Mavis grinned.

"I dunno, these coins could be scattered across the entire globe! They could be at the bottom of the ocean or frozen inside an iceberg up in the Arctic!" Mala argued.

"But wouldn't it be so cool to see what all the other coins do?" Mavis asked.

"Not to mention how dangerous they could be in the wrong hands," Tim added.

* * *

"Ah, finally. It took forever to get me back to my own time! But now I am free of those wretched, melding Chans. Now let us see what is going on with the mystical," the old man mumbled some incoherent words as an image formed in the liquid of the cauldron in front of him. The image of thirteen coins appeared, flashing from one to another as he closely analyzes the animal sigils. "Ah, the thirteen coins, most excellent. Just as powerful as that dragon's twelve talismans, maybe even more powerful! And even better! They're not in the same city as those damned Chans. With these coins in my hands, nothing will stand in the way of Daolon Wong!"

* * *

**And we have our villain! That's right, the villain we're bringing in is none other than Daolon Wong! He was a personal favorite of mine and in our opinion, the best candidate for the villain of this story. We had considered creating a new villain entirely, but we felt since the protagonists were all pretty much characters of our own making, that it would be best to choose a pre-existing villain. Plus, it helps keep the story in the JCA world, you know?**


	4. Callahan's Four

**Here's another chapter guys! I'll admit, I was a little worried about reactions to us bringing in Daolon Wong as our villain, but I'm glad the reception so far has been positive ^_^**

**This story and it's characters belong to Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper. Jackie Chan Adventures and anything originally from the cartoon series belongs to the show's creators.**

* * *

"And as you can see, students, archaeologists were able to recover these artifacts and they are now on display here!" the teacher announced as she led the students through the museum.

"Well, school may be closed, but it's nice that they didn't cancel the field trip to the museum," Tim commented, gazing at a display case as he walked by.

"Yeah, 'nice' isn't the word I'd use to describe this experience, Tim," Mavis sang in a bored tone before sighing heavily.

"Aw, it's not that bad. They've got a decent cafe near the entrance," Mala added.

"Yeah, but they don't let you bring anything in past the reception desk! What's the point of having good food when you can't even bring it in with you? Museums are so boring," Mavis complained.

"You could at least look at some of the display cases, Mavis. You might find something you like," Tim remarked. The students broke off into their own little groups and wandered around the museum after the teacher dismissed them from the tour. They weren't allowed to leave yet, but they were allowed to walk around the museum on their own.

"Ok, so what are we supposed to do with this assignment again?" Liam asked, walking up to Mala while holding up their assignment sheet.

"Well, I guess we're supposed to pick one of the display cases and write a short essay on the artifacts they contain. So, is there a reason you've been keeping such a close eye on me all day?" Mala asked.

"Am I that obvious? Ok, I'm just still a little suspicious, but can you blame me? New student turns out to be a demon - a good demon - and becomes our friend."

"Well, I won't lie, I've been a bit suspicious too. I mean, the last demon I trusted lied to me and deceived me. And he was my friend! I guess I'm still a little on edge," she replied.

"Ok, cards on the table, my parents banished me to this world because of how interested I was in humans. They said if I loved humans so much, I might as well live with those 'vermin'. Honestly, it was the best thing they could have ever done for me. But then my old man decided that I was a 'stain' on our family's bloodline - his exact words - and thought it would be best to remove me from it. Tim and Mavis are my best friends and I'd do anything to protect them."

"I know I haven't known them as long as you have, but I like them and care about them too. I wouldn't do anything to hurt them," Mala said sincerely.

"And I believe you, at least, that's what my gut is telling me. Well, I told you my story, so will you tell me yours?" Liam asked.

"Well, my mother came to this world to get close to my father so she could learn his Chi Wizard secrets. When my father found out she was a demon, he banished her back to the Netherworld and raised me on his own. After he passed away, I had to start looking out for myself. For the longest time, I tried to forget the demon part of me. I tried so hard to push that half down so deep that it would never come back up."

"So what happened with this friend of yours?"

"He came to me asking for my help. He told me that what he was doing was going towards creating a world just for half-demons, for people like him and me and I believed him. By the time I figured out what he was really planning… well, I helped put a stop to him. So if I seem a little distant or hesitant about trusting you, there's a strong chance that it has to do with the fact someone I thought was my friend betrayed me," she answered sadly.

"He wasn't just a friend, was he?"

Mala's head shot up, her eyes wide in surprise. "No," she whispered. "He was so much more to me, which made it hurt all the more when he lied to me. You don't need to worry about me betraying the group or anything. I know all to well how it feels to be betrayed by someone you thought you knew."

Liam put a consoling hand on Mala's shoulder. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. You've got good friends here that would do anything to help you."

"Thanks. You know, my mother once told me that I could never trust a demon," Mala mentioned.

"Smart woman. But I think you should be concerned with what you think. Do you trust me?" Liam asked.

Mala thought for a moment before answering, "Yeah, I do. You're not trying to make a pass at me, are you?"

"What? N-no! …What?" he asked a second time in a flustered shock. "N-no, no, I-I'm more into hyperactive and energetic girls with an obsession for the supernatural," he said with a nervous cough.

Mala looked over to Mavis, who was working on her assignment with Tim, "Ah, I see. Well, I think you two would be cute together."

"Guys! Guys, get over here!" Mavis shouted, earning a stern look from their teacher, to which Mavis quickly replied, "Sorry." But as soon as the teacher turned around, Mavis casually rolled her eyes.

Mala and Liam rushed over to Mavis and Tim. "What is it?" Liam asked.

"Check this out!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the display case in front of them.

"What, did you actually find something you like?" Mala asked.

"More like I found something we all could be interested in."

"Whoa, is that-" Liam started.

"One of the Coins? We think so. It's around the same shape and has a similar animal sigil on it, not to mention that it doesn't look like any of the other coins in this display case," Tim said.

Mavis dug into her glove and pulled out her Cat Coin and held it up to the display case. "They look similar. What are the odds, right?"

"Well," Tim began.

"That was rhetorical!" Mavis interjected.

"Did that history volume have any details on what the other animal sigils were?" Tim asked.

"Unfortunately, no. Most information gets transferred by word of mouth from wizard to wizard. My guess is that the author never actually saw the Coins with his own eyes and only heard about how they were made," Mala replied.

"Well, Coin or not, we should probably take it just to be sure," Liam said.

"Yeah, not a good idea in broad daylight while the museum is full of visitors," Tim pointed out.

"Then we come back at night and break in. Simple as that," Liam chirped.

"Ok, let's just clear something up here, you're suggesting that we come back at night to break into a museum patrolled by guards, monitored by security cameras and protected by state-of-the-art alarm systems?" Tim asked.

"Was that not clear?" Liam asked. "Was that not clear?" he repeated to Mavis and Mala, unsure.

"It seemed pretty straightforward to me," Mala said. "Plus, it's not like we'll be able to get the Coin any other way."

"Not to mention fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams of robbing a museum. Oh, it'll be like Ocean's Eleven when George Clooney and his team broke into that casino vault! We'll be… Callahan's Four!"

"Callahan's Four?" Tim asked.

"Callahan's Four," Mavis affirmed. "Hey, you two get your demon powers, Tim's a genius, I need something of my own! So, I'm officially in charge of the team name and operation names!"

"Wait, you're making a team name? Why do we need a team name?" Mala asked.

"Who's going to even be calling us by a team name?" Liam added.

"Because we just need a team name! Plus, it's cool! Don't you dare take this away from me!" she warned.

"Uh ok, you can be in charge of names," Liam calmly assured her.

"You're damn right I can! So, what's the plan?"

"Isn't that what you're doing?" Mala asked.

"Noooo, I'm in charge of names. You're the smart one and the two demons who know all about this magic stuff. So? What's the plan?"

* * *

"Ok, this coffee place is open until midnight. Mavis and I will stay here while you two infiltrate the museum after closing time," Tim said to Liam and Mala.

"Aw, how come I have to stay here?" Mavis whined.

"Because unlike Liam and Mala, you don't have an obvious disguise. They won't be recognized in their demon forms so its better for them to go," Tim answered as Mavis pouted heavily. "Ok, I can hack the museum's security systems from here, but I'll only be able to shut them off for a minute or so, so you have to be quick. Once you're inside, I can loop security camera footage so you don't have to worry about being spotted. All you have to worry about is any security guards patrolling the museum and tripping an alarm in the Coin's display case."

"Operation: Callahan's Four! is a go!" Mavis chirped.

"Gotcha, we'll be careful," Liam said. He and Mala made their way out of the cafe and ducked into a dark alley to quickly change into their demon forms. "So, front door or back entrance?"

"Probably best if we go through the back entrance," Mala said.

"Good call." They made their way to the back entrance of the museum. "Locked door, not a problem." Linos bent down and held his hand over the bottom of the door as a shadow tendril crept underneath. A second later, they heard the door click and he pushed it open. "Easy peasy lemon squeesy. Mavis taught me that one," Linos said with a smirk.

"Let's get in and get that Coin. We have to be careful about any guards wandering around," Mala warned.

"Man, this place is kinda creepy at night," Liam commented. They slowly crept through the museum when they suddenly saw a light at the end of the hall. "A guard! Quick hide!"

Mala disappeared from sight while Linos dove into the shadow of a display case. The guard passed by them, shining the light on the display case as he went before moving down the hall and disappearing around the corner.

"That was close," Linos said, coming out of the shadows. "Hey, Mala, where'd you go?"

"I'm right here," she replied, instantly appearing before him.

"Right, I forgot you could do that."

"I can bend light off my crystals to make it look like I'm invisible," she replied with a smile.

"Ok yeah, that is pretty cool," he admitted.

"Thanks. Come on, the display case should be right over here."

"So, should we just break the glass?" Linos asked as they stood in front of the display case.

"No! Are you crazy, you could trigger an alarm!" Mala argued, holding her arms out to stop him. "Why do boys always insist on doings things with their fists?"

"What's the problem? Tim can just hack it."

"And what if he can't? He was only able to shut down the perimeter alarms for a minute and a high end security system for a museum is nothing like a high school's computer security."

"Ok, you've got a point, but how else are we going to get the Coin out of there?" he asked.

"Well, I have an idea." Mala flicked her wrist and her fingertips sparkled. She placed her fingertips against the glass and twisted her wrist, cutting a circle right into the glass.

"Whoa, how are you doing that?" he asked.

"Diamond is a crystal, so I can control it. Besides, this may be old school, but it'll keep the alarms from going off." She pulled her hand back, holding the circle she cut out between her fingers. "Think you can help me out with this part?"

"You got it." Linos waved his hand as a shadow tendril crept into the hole Mala cut before wrapping tightly around the Coin. "Score another Coin for us! What are you doing?"

"Making sure people don't know we were here." She clenched her other hand into a fist as a faint light radiated from it. When she opened her palm, an exact duplicate of the Coin lay in her hand. "Here, put this in the display case."

Linos obeyed and used a shadow tendril to place the duplicate into the display case. "Won't they be able to tell it's fake? I mean, it looks real enough to me, but it's still just made a crystal."

"It'll fool everyone else long enough until someone gets close enough to touch it. And by then, we'll have had the Coin for weeks!" Mala replied, placing the glass circle back into place and sealing the cracks.

All of a sudden, red lights flashed across the museum as a blisteringly loud alarm rang through the halls. "What did you do!" Linos shouted over the alarm as he covered his sensitive ears.

"That wasn't me! I swear!" Mala shouted back. They heard an explosion near the front entrance of the museum as the alarms died down. "What was that?"

"Not sure. Let's check it out!" They dashed towards the museum lobby and saw two security guards on the ground unconscious.

"Heh, wretched humans, always getting in the way," said the old man standing in the doorway that had been blasted open.

"Who is that?" Linos asked.

"I don't know… but I'm picking up a very strong magical presence from him, a very dark one too," Mala said.

"Oh, what's this? A pair of demons? Most unexpected."

"Who are you?" Linos shouted.

"I am Daolon Wong, one of the most powerful Dark Chi Wizards in the world!" Wong narrowed his eyes at Linos, "And you have something that belongs to me!" Wong raised his arm as the end of his staff lit up.

Linos felt his hand being pulled forward as Wong tried to use his magic to pull the Coin towards him. "I don't think so!" Linos opened his mouth wide and let out a loud sonic scream that blasted Wong right into the street.

"Looks like Tim was right. If there's people like a Dark Chi Wizard who want these Coins, we better hurry up and collect them," said Mala.

"What's going on?" Mavis asked, as the pairs regrouped outside.

"We got the Coin, but we ran into a speed bump," said Linos, gesturing to Wong in the street.

"He said his name was Daolon Wong, a Dark Chi Wizard," Mala said.

"Well, that sounds rather straightforward," Tim commented. "I'm guessing he wants the Coin?"

"Yeah, and we can't let him take it!" Linos shouted. He leapt into the air and sent a swarm of shadow tendrils rushing towards Wong.

Wong muttered something as a swirl of dark clouds surrounded him and dark energy shout out towards Linos. It struck him in the chest and sent him crashing to the ground, where he landed with a loud crash on a parked car, triggering it's alarm.

"Linos!" Mavis shouted in worry.

"I'm fine!" he said, jumping off the car. "This guy's tough."

"Of course he is. Dark Chi Wizards resort to dark magic to gain their power rather than hard work like normal Chi Wizards. See if you can activate the Coin; it might help out!" Mala rushed forward and fired a few crystal shards towards him. He tried to hit her with the same dark energy he hit Linos with, but Mala blocked it with a quickly raised crystal barrier.

"Ugh, when will you annoying children quit meddling with my plans!" Wong shouted in annoyance.

"Pearl, I need a hand!" Mala shouted. Pearl leapt over her to engage Wong and dealt a swift punch into the old man's stomach. He fell back but quickly fired another spell at Pearl, knocking her back to the intersection. "Pearl!" Mala cried in worry. She turned to Linos and shouted, "Have you figured it out yet?"

"It's active, but it's not doing anything!" he shouted back, looking at the Coin in his hand as the bat sigil glowed. "Oh, forget this!" Linos barked. He flew down towards Wong and let out another sonic scream, pushing the old man back and shattering some of Mala's crystals. "Let's go while he's down!" he shouted as he picked up the sound of sirens in the distance. Linos picked up Mavis and Tim in either of his arms while Mala retrieved Pearl and they flew off into the night.

* * *

"I knew I should have gone in with you guys! Who the hell was that?" Mavis shouted as she plopped down onto Mala's couch.

"Daolon Wong, a very famous and very dangerous Dark Chi Wizard. If he's after the Coins, then it can't be for a good reason," said Mala.

"Ok, so he's the bad guy, simple enough," said Tim. "If he was at the museum for the Coin, then there's a chance we could run into him again."

"Yeah, but we'll just kick his butt!" Mavis declared, punching her fist.

"It's not that simple, Mavis. The only way to fight a Dark Chi Wizard is with a Chi Wizard of our own!" Mala pointed out.

"You can do that, can't you?" Liam asked.

"I can't! Potential rebound, remember? If I were to fight Daolon Wong as a Chi Wizard, I'd have to use spells designed to repel evil and they'd end up hitting me too."

"Then we'll need a Chi Wizard of our own, someone you can teach," Liam said as his eyes drifted over to Tim.

"Uh, why are you two looking at me?" Tim asked.

"Come on, Tim! It makes perfect sense! You're the smartest one here and you work the hardest at everything!" Liam exclaimed.

"But that's for school assignments and projects, not spells for fighting evil wizards!" Tim protested. "And I don't know the first thing about Chi Wizardry."

"Then we'll have to get started," Mala said, dropping a thick book on Tim's lap. "My father taught me everything there is no know about Chi Wizardry and I can teach it all to you."

"Come on, Tim, you know this is the only logical choice," Liam said.

"All right," Tim sighed in defeat, "let's do it." He opened the thick cover of the book and began reading through the passages.

"Aw yeah! The Coin Crusaders have a Chi Wizard!" Mavis cheered.

"Coin Crusaders?" Liam asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not good? I'm still having trouble with a team name. I'll keep thinking about it," Mavis replied meekly.

"So now that we've got that covered, how are we going to be able to find the other Coins? We won't be lucky like tonight where we just happened to come across it?" Tim asked.

"Hm, I might be able to formulate a spell that will let us track any Coins within in vicinity," Mala replied. "It should let us know when a Coin has appeared and give us an idea of where it'll be."

"Speaking of Coins, have you figured out what that Bat one does yet?" Liam asked. "I tried using it when we were fighting Wong, but I didn't feel any different."

"There might be a reason for there. Based on the inscriptions, it seems the Bat Coin grants the user the power of super hearing and a sonic scream," said Mala.

"That would explain why it didn't work for you, Liam. You already have those powers!" Mavis realized.

"One more thing, now that we know somebody else wants the Coins, how can we make sure he doesn't come after the ones we already have?" Tim asked. "Perhaps we could use this shielding spell here that this chapter describes the mask the magical aura the Coins emit?"

"Holy crap, Tim! You're already halfway through the book!" Mavis exclaimed in wide-eyed amazement.

"I'm a fast reader," he casually commented with a little smirk.

"And a natural Chi apprentice. That is a good idea. Shielding spells are simple and I have a few of the ingredients already," Mala said.

"Ok, we'll leave the Coins with you for now so you can get that shielding spell going," said Liam. "Mavis."

"Aw, ok. Goodbye my sweet, sweet Coin. Mommy will miss you," Mavis whimpered, planting a big kiss on the cat sigil of the coin before sadly handing it to Mala.

"Don't worry, Mavis, you can have your… uh 'baby', after I put a shielding spell on them," Mala assured her.

* * *

**Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter! God, Mavis is so damn fun to write!**

**Next Chapter: The Hunter and the Master - The group encounter a newcomer in LA, a vicious and powerful demon Hunter named Remington Ryder all while they try to find the next coin.**


	5. The Hunter and the Master

**Yay! Another chapter! I had most of this written up like last week, but I had to postpone posting it because of an assignment for school that was due today. But here it is!**

**Also, Mavis is turning out to be a quick crowd favorite. XD I'm not surprised, writing Mavis is one of my favorite parts about writing the story!**

**I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures. This story and it's characters belong to Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper. Any canon characters or events mentioned in the story belong to the creators of JCA.**

* * *

"Man that was a great movie!" Mavis exclaimed as the four of them exited the movie theatre. "Was that a great movie or what?"

"The effects were decent, as was the humour," Tim commented, "Although, I didn't much care for excessive fart jokes."

"It went along a little longer than I thought. I didn't think it would finish so late," Mala said, looking at the clock on her phone.

"You got something to do tomorrow morning?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, I'm planning to go around to a few jewelry stores and sell them some of my custom made pieces."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… whoa, you make jewelry?" Mavis asked, coming to a sudden stop and stuck her face right in front of Mala's.

"Yeah. How do you think I'm able to pay for my apartment and tuition?"

"You know, I was meaning to ask that," Mavis said to herself, casually tapping her chin with her index finger.

"That's actually quite smart: taking advantage of your natural abilities to maintain a steady income," Tim commented.

"I usually only go to the jewelry stores once every week. Some of them will buy one or two things I make, but others aren't usually interested in buy jewelry made by a teenager. Everything else I just sell online at my website."

"Man, I wish I could make money like that. But the last time I checked, there isn't really something I can do with Shadow and Sound Demon Chi to make money with," Liam commented.

"Where do you live, Liam?" Mala asked.

"Right over there," he said, pointing to an old clock tower in the distance.

"You live in a clock tower?"

"I used to live in one of those abandoned warehouse buildings down by the harbour, but it kinda got destroyed. So I moved into the clock tower. It's much closer to the city, it's a great vantage point, I can see the entire city in all directions and the damn thing is so old people are almost never there."

"Hey, we can cut through this alley for a shortcut!" Mavis exclaimed.

"Um, Mavis, that alley is really dark. What if someone jumps out and tries to attack us?" Tim asked.

"Relax Tim," Liam said, giving his friend a mild pat on the back, "What could possibly go wrong?"

They entered the dimly lit alley as Tim nervously clung to his friend. One of the alley lights suddenly flickered before going off completely. "Well, that's reassuring," Tim commented. They were almost near the end when three figures suddenly stepped in front of them, blocking their way to the exit.

"Well, hey there kids, nice night for a stroll, eh?" said the man standing in the center. His voice was low and gritty that would send shivers down anyone's spine. He pulled out a knife and flashed it to the teens. "So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Give us all yer cash and valuables and no one gets hurt."

"I don't think so," Liam said as he narrowed his eyes to the thug and crossed his arms defiantly.

"You asked for it, kid!" the man charged towards Liam, holding out his knife to stab him, but Liam quickly moved to the side and stuck out his foot. The thug tripped and landed face first into the dirt before rolling down the alley.

"Hey!" shouted one of the other men. He ran towards Liam, ready to get him from behind, but Liam whirled around and grabbed the man's shirt collar and lifted him off the ground. "You picked the wrong person to mug," Liam grinned as his eyes began glowing a bright red. He roughly pushed his attacker to the ground as dark shadows swirled around him and Liam changed into his demon form.

"AAHHH! MONSTER!" the man shouted. He scrambled to his feet and took off with the third man.

"Heh, chicken," Linos muttered with a vicious grin.

"Hey!" Mala cried as the leader Linos had tripped earlier roughly seized her arm. "Big mistake!" Mala knocked the man off her with her thick tail and he fell back onto the ground. Mala changed into her demon form in a flash of white light and waved her arm, sending a row of crystals shards right at the man's feet. He wailed in fright as he scrambled to his feet and took off to the other end of the alley, nearly tripping as he went.

"That… was awesome. Did you see their faces when you turned into demons? They were like 'AAAAAAHHH' and you guys were like 'heh, you picked the wrong person to mug'," Mavis declared as she did her best to imitate the thug and Linos' voice.

"Well, I think that's enough craziness for one night, don't you guys think so?" Tim asked.

"Demons! I should have known this city would be plagued by them!" The four of them looked up to the roof of one of the buildings that formed the alley and saw a dark figure standing above them. It jumped down and flawlessly landed in front of them.

"Ok buddy, who are you supposed to be?" Linos asked, standing in front of his friends. The figure stepped out into the light, revealing a young man with pale skin, messy black hair, green eyes and covered head to toe in armour as a black scarf trailed down his neck. "You're just a kid! What are you supposed to be?"

"I am your end, filthy demons!" the boy drew a sword as the blade extended out. He dashed towards Linos, ready to swing, but a crystal suddenly erected between them as it blocked the boy's attack.

"What's this guy's deal?" Mavis cried.

"Not sure, but you two stay back. We'll handle this!" Linos shouted.

The boy moved to attack Mala, but she blocked each of his strikes with her claws and crystal barriers. She leapt into the air but he fired a small grappling hook that wrapped securely around her foot. With a swift pull, he brought her back down as she roughly landed on the ground.

"Mala, you ok?" Mavis asked, rushing to her friend.

"Yeah," she groaned, rubbing her head. "Look out!" she shouted as the boy advanced on them again. The boy raised his arm, sword in hand and ready to strike when he was suddenly kicked roughly in the stomach by Pearl, who instantly appeared before her master.

"Wretched demons," the boy muttered under his breath.

"Hey, what's your problem!" Linos shouted, stepping up to the boy.

"You wretched demon prance about this world like it belongs to you. None of you deserve to be here. I'll destroy all you evil demons for the honour of the Ryder Clan!" he declared proudly.

"Ryder Clan?" Mala gasped.

"Evil? You need to get your facts checked, kid!" Linos formed two shadow blades and raised them just in time to block the boy's sword.

"Ugh, you're even uglier up close!" the boy spat.

"Funny, I was just about to say the same about you," Linos said with a wide grin. Their swords clashed again and again when the boy suddenly reached behind him and pulled out a small dagger, slicing Linos right across his chest. "Ah!" Linos stumbled back, clutching the wound on his chest. The boy moved in to finish Linos, but a crystal wall suddenly formed in front of the boy before it circled him entirely, trapping him inside a crystal prison.

"We have to get out of here! It won't hold him for long," Mala exclaimed.

"Linos, are you ok?" Tim asked.

"It's just a scratch!" he assured them. He tried to push himself up, but winced in pain and fell back.

"Yeah, I didn't realize that 'scratch' was recently redefined to mean 'large, gaping chest wound'!" Mavis shouted.

"Linos, you have to use your shadow powers to get us out of here. Can you teleport us all back to my place?" Mala asked.

"Y-yeah, yeah I can manage that…" he muttered weakly. Shadows swirled around the group before completely covering them as they disappeared from the area. When the shadows faded, they were in Mala's apartment. Mala shifted back into her human form while Linos used the last of his strength to do the same.

"Ok, Mavis, get him on the couch. Tim, with me, now!" Mala ordered.

"Oh, this won't be easy," Mavis muttered to herself.

"What are we doing?" Tim asked.

Mala tossed a large book at him as Tim caught it in his arms. "Healing spells, chapter 5."

"Uh, ok, curing a bite from a spider demon? No, uh, accidental inhalation of powdered butterfly wings? No, no! Ok, ok, healing gaping flesh wounds. Wow… that's what it's actually called. Ok, uh, dried lotus root, dehydrated pig liver, fish oil and maca," Tim paused, "macadamia nuts? Really?"

"Ugh, I don't have any of those ingredients. Let me see that." Mala took the book from Tim and began flipping through the pages. "Ok, this will have to do. The spell is only meant for minor cuts, but it's the only one here that I have all the ingredients for." Mala pulled Tim into her kitchen to help her prepare the ingredients while Mavis tended to Liam on the couch.

"Please tell me you have something that can help him," Mavis said as the two emerged from the kitchen.

"We do. It's a weaker spell meant for small cuts, but it's the best we can do for now. Tim, this'll be good for you to watch, ok?"

"Gotcha," he replied.

Mala knelt down in front of the couch and sprinkled the powdery mixture they made over his chest while muttered an incantation. The wound glowed faintly as the bleeding instantly stopped and the wound began to close. It only started healing part way before stopping entirely. The wound was still rather large, but Liam was no longer bleeding.

"That should hold him until we get the necessary ingredients tomorrow," Mala said.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Mavis asked.

"It'll still hurt, but not as much. He'll feel better in the morning. We can meet up tomorrow before we head out to get ingredients for a better healing spell."

* * *

"Hey, you're looking better already!" Mavis exclaimed.

"Yeah, but my chest aches and I can't stop scratching it." Liam moved his hand to scratch his chest when Mala suddenly slapped his hand away.

"Ah ah ah! No scratching! You'll fester the wound!" she scolded.

"Yes, mom," he grumbled.

"What if that kid shows up again? Liam's in no fighting condition and it took both of you just to hold him off!" Tim cried.

"Based on the way he was talking, I'd say he knew we were demons already. So long as Liam and I are in our human forms, we'll be fine. He won't be able to detect us."

"So where are we going to find these ingredients? The last time I checked, the supermarket didn't exactly sell dried lotus root and dehydrated pig liver," said Mavis.

"Don't worry about that; I know just the place!" Mala said, as she led them down the street. "If you look hard enough, you'll always manage to find one of those Chinese herbal medicine shops, though they're far more common in Chinatown. Luckily for us, there's one just a few blocks from here and it's the closest one that's well-priced too." They followed Mala down the street before she came to a stop in front of an open store. "Well, here we are!" she declared.

"Kuang's Medicinal Herbs and Other Neat Finds?" Tim read the store's name.

"Neat Finds? Sounds like my kind of place!" Mavis grinned.

"Argh, what's that smell?" Liam cried, pinching his nose.

"Onions," Mala answered, gesturing to the sliced onions hanging around the store. "It's an ancient superstition where people believed the smell of onions wards off demons."

"Well, they were right!" Liam coughed.

"Demons don't like the smell of onion?" Mavis asked.  
"Not one bit."

"How come it's not bothering you?" Tim asked.

"Half-human," Mala winked.

"Oh my, I wasn't expecting such young people in my shop." They turned and saw an old Chinese man dressed in a dark green Chinese-styled shirt with a matching hat. His long white hair was brittle and tied in a low ponytail while the hair on his face formed a neat little beard. "Welcome to my shop! My name is Kuang, but everybody just calls me Old Man Kuang," he greeted.

"That is an awesome casual name, Old Man Kuang," Mavis complimented.

"Why thank you, my dear! Is there anything specific that you're looking for?"

"Yes, do you have any dried lotus root and dehydrated pig liver?" Mala asked.

"Of course we do! Just one moment." Kuang moved behind the counter and began digging through the drawers. He pulled out two containers and set them on the glass counter. "Might I recommend some fermented beetle larvae and sparrow feathers?"

"Oh yes, those would be excellent. We'll need those for tracking spells," Mala whispered that last part to Tim. "Do you also happen to have dried seahorse and ground-up dragonfly wings?"

"Ah, let me check. I must say, I'm surprised a young lady such as yourself knows so much about these ingredients," he commented as he rummaged through his cupboards.

"Well, my dad taught me a lot about them," Mala laughed nervously.

"Oh, I'm sure he did. Jasper was my best and favourite student."

"W-Wha? How did you?" Mala asked, eyes wide in shock.

"Jasper was one of the brightest; I'd expect nothing less from his daughter," Kuang said with a smile.

"Y-you're… Chi Master Kuang!" Mala cried in amazement. "I-it's an honor to meet you!" Mala fumbled as she jumped back and bowed her head respectfully.

"Please, stand. There's no need to be so formal. Besides, I'm retired! Just call me Old Man Kuang, everyone does!" he smiled.

"Mala, do you know this guy?" Tim asked.

"Yes! This is Chi Mast- I mean, Old Man Kuang," she corrected herself, "He was my father's master and one of the greatest Chi Wizards of the century!"

"Oh, please, you're making me blush. Oh my, it looks like your demon friend isn't taking too kindly to my onions," Kuang said, noticing a woozy Liam.

"Yes, he-wait, how did you know he's a demon?" Mala asked.

"Oh, my eyes may not be what they used to be, but I know the sight of a demon's reaction to onions. Here you are, young man, drink this," Kuang said, handing Liam a cup of tea.

"Uh, ok." Liam took the cup and carefully sniffed the tea before downing the whole thing in one go.

"Better?"

Liam waited a second before answering. He took a deep breath and blinked a few times to clear his eyes. "Actually, yeah!" he exclaimed. "Thank you!"

"Whoa, what was in that tea?" Mavis asked.

"It's a special tea of my own making. It helps reinforce an onion immunity in demons so they won't be bothered by the smell."

"If you don't mind me asking, why would you make a tea like that?" Tim asked.

"Why so my friends don't get bothered by the smell, of course!"

"You mean… demon friends?" Mala asked.

"Why of course! Not all demons are bad, you know," he clarified with a wink. "Now based on these ingredients, I would say you're cooking up a healing spell as well as a locator spell of some sorts."

"That's right! How did you know?" Mavis asked.

"Well, they didn't call me Chi Master Kuang for nothing! Now what has the daughter of my favourite student gotten herself into?"

"You ever hear of the 13 Coins?" Liam asked him.

"Who hasn't?"

"Well, we're trying to find them before Daolon Wong gets his hands on them," Mala said.

"Oh my, that is serious. Daolon Wong is one of the greatest Dark Chi Wizards in the world. If he wants something, he won't stop until he gets it. And you don't want his hands to get on anything."

"Otherwise he'll destroy the world, yadda yadda, classic evil villain diatribe," Mavis commented.

"No, I mean literally. He's got these creepy mouths on his hand that he uses to syphon energy and power from others," Kuang said, holding out his hands in a reenactment.

"Hands… on mouths?" Tim asked.

"Creepy," Mavis shuddered.

"Indeed. So let me guess, you're making a locator spell in order to track the rest of the Coins?" Kuang asked.

"Yes," Mala answered.

"And how about the Coins you already have?"

"I've already put a shielding spell on each of them to mask their magical aura so Daolon Wong can't detect them."

"Haha, good girl!" Kuang beamed proudly. "Now, you aren't planning to actually fight Daolon Wong, are you?"

"No, we both know what would happen if I tried with Chi spells. I'm training Tim instead," Mala said, gesturing to Tim behind her.

"Ah, so he is your apprentice? Your father would be very proud of you if he could see you now."

"You think so?"

"I know so! He wrote to me often and always talked about how much he loved you and how he knew you'd grow into a strong and confident young woman."

Mala couldn't help but smile to herself. "D-did he ever write about my…"

"Mm, he wrote about Lana often - or should I just call her Lang Yan now? Anyway, he was heartbroken when he found out the truth."

"Yeah, I know," Mala said bitterly.

"Not that she was a demon, my dear, but that she kept this part of her from him. Maybe for Lang Yan it started out as a mission, but I like to think that somewhere along the way, she started to feel something for the both of you."

"I doubt that."

"Mala, you know as well as anyone else how quickly faces can change. We all have parts of ourselves that we keep a secret. But deep down we're all the same. What matters most isn't what is on the outside, but what is in here," Kuang said, lightly tapping Mala's chest where her heart was.

"Old Man Kuang, that was deep… and 100% worthy of a fist bump!" Mavis grinned, holding out her fist. "Don't leave me hangin'."

"Haha, I try," he smiled, bumping Mavis' fist as she made an explosion sound effect with her mouth.

"I guess I never really thought of it that way," Mala said.

"Children never really understand their parents, at least not entirely. A parent scolding their child may do so to teach their child a lesson, but from the child's perspective, their parent is being mean and they feel they are being mistreated. When we are children, we are unable to see the bigger picture clearly and we form judgements and assumptions on our parents based not only on their actions, but how we interpret those actions with the understanding we posses at that time. I'm not trying to defend what she did, but I'm just saying keep an open mind. Things might not have gone down entirely the way you thought they did."

"I can't make any promises."

"Aha, but you didn't say 'no', which means you are keeping an open mind! Or at least you're thinking about keeping an open mind." Kuang boasted loudly. "So, is that everything?" he asked, placing a bag filled with containers on the counter.

"Yes, thank you Kuang. How much?" Mala asked, reaching for her wallet.

"Please," Kuang started, holding out his hands gently in protest, "it's on the house!"

"What? No, I couldn't possibly-"

"Family discount!" he quickly declared as he cut her off.

"F-family?"

"Of course! You're practically family!"

"Oh, thank you," she said with a slight bow. "But next time I insist on paying!" she called back as they exited the store. They made their way back to Mala's apartment where she instructed Tim how to prepare the healing spell.

"Ok, according to the book, you're going to feel a slight tingle," Tim said, as he carefully poured the bowl's contents onto Liam's chest.

"WHOA! That was anything but 'slight'!" Liam barked.

"Yeah, yeah tiger, keep still," Mavis lectured. After a few seconds, the wound began glowing as the spell closed it entirely. When the glow faded, there was no sign of the gash at all.

"And that's it! How do you feel?" Tim asked.

"Much better, especially now that I can scratch this itch that's been building all day!" Liam sighed in relief as he started scratching his chest.

"Ok, now that that's done, you and I can get started on that locator spell. It should only take about an hour to fix up since I already prepared the ingredients while you were preparing the healing spell," said Mala.

"What about the guy who put me in this position in the first place? He's still out there," Liam asked.

"Yeah, didn't he say he was from, like the Ryder Clan or something?" asked Mavis.

Mala moved over to her bookshelf and pulled out another book. She sat down on the couch and opened the book as the others gathered around her. "The Ryder Clan," she started, "was a clan of famous demon hunters back in ancient times."

"Demon hunters?" Tim asked.

"Thousands of years ago, demons used to rule this world. After the rise of Chi Wizardry eliminated the more powerful ones, all that were left were the smaller demons. That's where hunters came in. Chi Wizards couldn't be bothered from their studies to take care of a little demon," clarified Liam.

"That's right. And the Ryder Clan was one such group of hunters, if not the best! They were originally called the Laida Clan and each member of the family was trained extensively in demon extermination techniques both physical and magical, which means they're kind of like Chi Wizards as well. After nearly all demons were exorcised from this world, there was no longer any need for hunters and the Laida Clan turned to a life of banditry," Mala explained.

"Hey, that emblem was on that kid's sword, and belt, and well, everywhere! Man, he really likes to show off that emblem," Mavis pointed out the green crescent shape with two circles above it.

"That's the crest of the Laida Clan," said Mala.

"Does it say anything about the Clan after they became bandits?" Tim asked.

"No, that was the last anyone had ever heard of about the Laida Clan," she answered, closing the book.

"Until now," Mavis said dramatically. "Sorry, I've always wanted to be the one to say the 'until now' part," she added with a mischievous smile.

"If that's true then this boy who attacked us last night must be a descendant of the Laida Clan," Mala concluded.

"And he seems to have taken up the Clan's original mission," added Tim.

"Mhm, we'll have to be more careful from now on. If we run into Daolon Wong while we're searching for the Coins and we change into our demon forms, the hunter will be able to detect and track us," Mala said.

"So not only do we have a Dark Chi Wizard, but now we have a demon hunter after us too?" Mavis asked.

"Technically after me and Mala," Liam interjected.

"You know what I meant!"

"Well, like I said, as long as Liam and I stay in our human forms, he won't be able to track our demonic auras. It's only when we're in a fight with Wong where we'll have to be careful," Mala cautioned.

"It's a good thing you're training Tim then. If he can take care of Daolon Wong, you and I will be free to handle the hunter if he shows up," said Liam.

"Yeah, 'good'," Tim said sarcastically with air quotes.

* * *

**It's just a scratch! lol**

**I was really excited to write this chapter because in it we finally introduced the last of the new characters: Remington Ryder and Old Man Kuang. I hope you guys like them.**

**Next chapter: The group and Daolon Wong chase after a raven that has one of the Coins in it's possession. **


	6. Raven's Trinket

**And reading week is over now :( Oh well, I had a good break and got a whole week of work done. So.. $$ yay! Anyway, I've got the rest of the story planned out and I'll hopefully be able to find time between assignments to keep writing ^_^**

**Without further adieu, enjoy! This story and it's characters belong to Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper except for any content (characters, plot, etc.) originating from Jackie Chan Adventures.**

* * *

"All right, Demon Hunters, this may be our greatest challenge yet. No one has ever faced this and lived to tell the tale. But I believe that if we combine all our strengths, we'll just make it," Mavis said in a serious tone.

"Mavis, relax, it's just math homework," said Mala.

"How can you even put 'relax' and 'math homework' in the same sentence? I'm sure the math at your old school was all fine and dandy, but this, oh no, this is pure evil!"

"Fine and dandy?" Mala asked. "Do people still say that?"

"Hang on, what was that 'demon hunters' part?" Liam asked, setting his math textbook on his lap.

"Oh, just another team name idea. No good?" she asked.

"Well for one thing, it might cause some confusion with the actual demon hunter that's trying to kill us," Liam pointed out.

"Yeah, I didn't think it was a good one either, but it was worth a shot. Ugh! This is killing my brain!" Mavis cried out in frustration.

"Mavis, you haven't even started the first question," Mala said.

"I know! That's how much it's killing me! I haven't even started yet and just the thought of doing math… I don't even want to think about it," she shuddered.

"You mean think about the thought of doing math? That doesn't really-" Mala started.

"Mala trust me, just let this one slide," Tim called from the kitchen.

"If you say so," she shrugged. "How's that tracking spell going, Tim?" she called back.

"Almost ready, I'm just checking over the recipe!"

"Oh awesome! This is just the well timed distraction I need to tear me away from the menace that is… math homework," she muttered dramatically.

"Math homework that you technically haven't even started yet," Mala noted.

"Minor details," Mavis said with a playful brush of her hand. "So what've we got? Where's the next coin?" she asked eagerly, sitting at the edge of the couch as Tim came over with the spell's contents in a bowl.

Tim muttered the incantation and placed the final ingredient in the bowl, which began to bubble. Smoke arose from the bowl and formed into a little cloud just above them. Suddenly an image formed within the smoke or something small and black.

"Is that… is that a bird? Are you sure you did the spell right?" Mavis asked.

"I'm positive! I read over the recipe three times and did every step correctly! I'm sure of it!" Tim insisted.

"Wait, there's more!" Liam cried. The image of the bird cleared up before closing in on the nest it sat in.

"And there's our pretty birdie!" Mavis exclaimed, noticing the shining coin with wavy edges within the bird's nest.

"Whaddya know? It actually is a bird," Mala said in amusement. The image suddenly zoomed out from the bird's nest to show several trees and benches.

"Hey, I know that park! That's halfway between the school and my place! I remember that park because that's where I once beat up that snot nosed Benson for getting dirt all over my sandwich," said Mavis.

"When you were a kid, right?" Mala asked.

"No, that was just last month. My sandwich would have been so proud of me for getting revenge on that sandwich ruining, snot nosed Benson."

"Well, let's head there before Daolon Wong shows up," said Liam.

"Aw yeah! Operation: Birds of a Feather!" Mavis declared.

They made their way to the park under Mavis' directions. "Nope, no nest in this one," Liam sighed, dropping to the ground after climbing the third tree in the park.

"Maybe it'll be in the next one. Sorry you have to do all the climbing Liam," Tim said, "I'm still getting a handle on these tracking spells."

"It's fine, Tim. It would be easier if I could just fly, but that's not exactly an option for me." Liam hoisted himself into the next tree and sighed in relief when he noticed a nest on one of the branches. "Guys I think this is it!" he called. He reached forward to grab the nest, but stopped when a raven perched on the branch right across from him. "Uh oh, nice birdie… AH! Son of a-OW!" Liam shouted, falling to the ground and landing on his butt roughly.

"A Shadow and Sound Demon defeated by a raven. You must be so proud," Mala said with a chuckle.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, but that thing was crazy mad!"

"I'm not surprised, ravens are quite protective of their hordes of shiny trinkets," Tim explained.

"Yeah ok, keep watch while I-" Liam began speaking when they heard a pair of wings fluttering. They all looked up to see the raven taking off from its nest with the coin gripped tightly in its talon.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Mavis groaned.

"Uh, it gets worse, I'm afraid," Mala said, pointing to the other side of the park.

"Argh, of course you children would be here. I should have expected this!" Daolon Wong shouted in annoyance.

"Ok Tim, you're up!" Mala exclaimed.

Tim dug into his bag and pulled out the large book inside. "Uh, all right, attack spells, attack spells, here we go!" he said, flipping through the pages until he found the passage he was looking for.

"Let's go get that bird!" Mavis cried as she, Liam and Mala chased after it.

"There's too many people here; we can't transform," Liam said.

"Well, there is one alternative." Mala looked around to make sure the park goers weren't watching and formed a single, purple crystal crow in her hands. The crow cawed and perched on her wrist. "Go after that bird," Mala commanded. The crow looked up at the raven flying away and took off after it.

"Guys! I could use some help here!" Tim cried, running over to them while narrowly avoiding Daolon Wong's attack spell.

"Well, at least the park's clear," said Liam, noticing the park visitors fleeing the explosions caused by Daolon Wong's spells. "We won't have to worry about people seeing us now."

"Right," Mala nodded, as they both assumed their demon forms.

Daolon Wong looked above them and saw the raven fighting Mala's crow. "Ah, there it is." He muttered another spell before firing a beam of dark energy straight towards the two birds. The blast shattered the crystal crow and nearly hit the raven. The raven cawed, startled by the attack as it tightened its grip on the Coin. Suddenly, the Coin lit up and a glow surrounded the raven as it zoomed off into the distance.

"Oh come on!" Mavis shouted.

"Let's forget Wong and follow that bird. Think you can still track it, Tim?" Linos asked.

"I'll try," he answered. Linos grabbed Mavis and Tim in each of his arms and took off into the sky followed by Mala. They flew high above the city, careful to avoid being seen by people down below. "Ok, keep heading east!" Tim shouted over the wind rushing by them.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOO!" Mavis shouted, "I never get tired of this!"

"Mavis, please be quiet and focus!" Linos pleaded.

"You be quiet! I'm gonna enjoy this! This is a thousand times better than stupid math homework!" she shouted, holding her arms out as they flew.

"How far do you think that bird got?" Linos asked.

"Hard to say! We don't know how long it activated the Coin for. And from what we saw, I'm guessing that Coin's power was super speed," Mala replied.

"Super speed? Oh man, I can't wait to try that one out! I'd never be late for class again and I'd finally get our gym teacher to shut up about my horrible time for running laps!" Mavis exclaimed.

"Mavis, you realize we can't go around using the Coins for our own personal gain, right?" Tim pointed out.

"Hey, a girl can dream!"

"Well, super speed would be pretty handy right about now-WHOA!" Mala suddenly came to a stop in midair along with Linos when an arrow suddenly whizzed right past her cheek. Mala looked down to find their shooter and noticed someone standing on the roof of a nearby building. "It's the hunter!"

"Oh perfect!" Linos shouted sarcastically.

"I'll handle the hunter! You three find that raven before Daolon Wong does!" Mala said to them. She flew down to engage the hunter as Linos continued after the raven.

"Just you?" he asked, drawing his sword.

"Nope,"Mala answered, as Pearl took her place beside her master.

"A shame; I was hoping to get rid of both you demons," he spat.

"Listen kid, I don't know who you think you are, but we're not your enemy!"

"Psh, this coming from a demon?"

"A demon and a human," Mala said, as she noticed the boy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "We're not like other demons; we're not evil."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word on that? I don't think so!" the boy charged forward, ignoring Mala's words. He advanced to strike her with his sword, by Pearl intercepted him, blocking the blow with her thick forearm. The hunter tried again to strike the rabbit, but Pearl blocked each of his blows easily before swiftly dealing a powerful punch to his stomach. The force of the blow knocked him across the roof of the building. He grunted as he clutched his stomach before picking himself up. "Enough of this, puppet!" he sneered. With incredible speed, the hunter threw a bolas at Pearl as the cords wrapped securely around Pearl's arms. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, struggling against the restraints.

"Pearl!" Mala cried out in worry, before narrowing her eyes at the hunter.

Mala waved her arms, summoning a row of crystal shards that she sent raining down towards the hunter with the flick of her wrist. The hunter ran across the rooftop, avoiding the majority of the shards while deflecting the rest with his sword. He pulled out a small crossbow and fired the grappling hook straight at Mala. The hook clamped around her arm and he pulled her down to the rooftop with all his might. The landed roughly on the rooftop and pushed herself up with her hands. She extended the claws on her forearms and brought them over her just in time to block the hunter's next sword strike. With all her might, Mala pushed the hunter off her as he stumbled back before summoning her crystal crows. The crows swarmed around the hunter, who raised his arms to avoid the pecking beaks of the purple crows.

_'I hope they found that raven. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up,'_ Mala thought. The hunter slashed half of the crows with his sword before shooting down the rest with his crossbow bolts.

"Is that all you have, demon?" he taunted.

"Not a chance," she replied, turning invisible.

"Typical: sending minions to fight your battles and sneaking around instead of facing me in a real battle!" The hunter threw down a smoke grenade, covering the rooftop in a thick smoke. "There you are!" he smirked, spotting her figure in the smoke. He threw a bolas at her, the cords wrapping tightly around her and binding her arms. Like with her rabbit, Mala lost her balance and fell to the ground. The hunter charged for her again, but just as he dove, Mala raised her legs and hoisted him right over her and over the ledge. Mala got to her feet and tore through the bolas with her crystals. She ran over to the ledge in time to see the hunter falling into the alley below. Mala quickly held out her hand, forming a crystal slide right beneath the hunter that spiraled down the alley, depositing the hunter into a soft but smelly pile of trash bags. Mala let out a light chuckle at the sight of the prestigious demon hunter struggling in the trash pile before taking off to rejoin her friends.

* * *

"Ok, let's try this again, nice birdie," Liam whispered, reaching out to the raven as it was perched on a gargoyle on a skyscraper. "No, no, no, don't do that!" he quickly cursed as the raven cawed and began flapping its wings.

"Careful! You don't want it to activate the Coin again!" Tim warned.

"Yeah I know, but it's kinda hard to get the Coin when the bird won't leave it alone!"

"Hey, how's it going?" Mala asked, landing next to the group and reverting to her human form.

"Mala! Where's the hunter?" Tim asked.

"Oh, let's just say I took out the trash," she smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait, did you leave him garbage?" Mavis asked with a serious face.

"Yes."

"Ah, good, because otherwise the line wouldn't have made sense."

"So what's the trouble?" Mala asked.

"The raven won't leave the Coin and we can't get close to it without it ready to fly off and probably zoom halfway across the world!" Liam muttered.

"What if we distracted it with something else?" Mavis suggested.

"Like what?" Tim asked.

"Something shiny, resplendent like the noon-day sun, perhaps?" Mavis continued.

"Like this?" Mala asked, holding a large jewel in her palm.

"Where did you get that?" Liam asked.

"Made it," she answered curtly.

"Haha! That's my girl!" Mavis cheered, seizing the jewel from Mala and moving towards the raven. "Yoohoo, little birdie, wouldn't you rather have this really pretty, sparkly, super awesome and amazing jewel my friend made?"

"There is no way this is going to work," Liam commented. However, to his surprise, the raven cocked its head in curiosity to Mavis and hopping towards her, leaving the Coin on the gargoyle's head. It cautiously examined the jewel before quickly seizing it in its beak and taking off back for its nest.

"And you said it wouldn't work," Mavis smirked, turning back to look at Liam. "Whoa, heads up!" she shouted, pointing above them. They looked up to see Daolon Wong float above as a beam of dark energy shot out from his hands to their feet. Black roots sprouted from the ground and wrapped firmly around their feet and legs.

"I can't move!" Liam shouted. "Mala, can you cut these off?"

"I'm trying, but they must be magically reinforced!" Mala cried back.

"Mavis, look out!" Liam cried, when Daolon Wong turned to face her.

"Uh oh," she squeaked. Daolon Wong unleashed a blast of dark Chi energy at the gargoyle, destroying its anchor to the building as it and Mavis fell to the streets below.

"NOOO!" Liam struggled more than ever against the roots while Mala and Tim merely stared wide-eyed at the gargoyle that up until a few seconds ago, held their friend.

"Well, nothing to do now but to retrieve the Falcon Coin from your friend's body," Wong cackled.

"You're gonna pay for this Wong!" Liam shouted, his eyes glowing bright red in rage.

"Heh, pesky little demons talk too much. You can't even move!"

"Whoa-whoooah-whoa-whoa-whoa!" The three teens gasped as their jaws dropped at the sight of Mavis floating back up to their level. She was flailing her arms, trying to steady herself and stop herself from rolling upside down. "Hey, freakface!" Mavis shouted once she was floating upright again.

"Huh?" Daolon Wong turned around and gasped at the flying girl in shock. "But I-you!" he fumbled with his words.

"Don't you bad guys ever learn? Good guys always win!" Mavis proudly flashed the Bat Coin between her fingers before tightly clutching it within her palm. She leaned back and inhaled deeply before letting out a powerful sonic scream. Daolon Wong tried to shield himself with his arms, but the force of the blast was too powerful him and sent him flying off into the distance.

"Mavis, that was incredible!" Tim cried.

"I know, right?" she said confidently as she floated down to the roof top with them.

"You almost had us there; we thought you were-" Mala started.

"Aw, come on, guys, you know it takes much more to get rid of the Mavis," she grinned, pointing to herself with her thumbs.

"Well, you did good, Callahan. Tim, get us out of these, will you?" Liam asked.

"Just a second…" Tim muttered a spell and the roots disintegrated, freeing them.

"So I guess super speed wasn't the only thing that Coin could do," said Mala.

"Yeah and Wong said it was the Falcon Coin," Liam added.

Mavis tossed the Coin to Mala, who inspected the inscription on the back. "Yup, wings and speed of the falcon," she confirmed. "Let's hurry back to my place so we can put a shielding spell on this."

"Right. We still have math homework to finish," said Liam.

"Well, some of us do," Tim added.

The three of them laughed when Mavis let out an exasperated and overdramatic groan.

* * *

**Next chapter: When Daolon Wong poisons the team, it's up to Pearl and Mala's constructs to save the day and get the next coin!**


	7. One of a Kind

**Enjoy another chapter! Sadly, it's a little shorter than the others, but oh well!**

* * *

"After him!" Linos shouted, dashing through the abandoned warehouse after Daolon Wong. "We can't let him get away with that Coin! Tim, do something!" he shouted.

"I'm trying! He's moving too fast! And I'm still just an apprentice!" Tim argued.

"I'll slow him down!" Mala declared. She waved her hands as crystals formed around Daolon Wong's feet, trapping him. He struggled and pulled to free himself, but the crystals were too strong and held him in place.

"Ugh, pesky children!" he cursed. He pointed his staff to the crystals and disintegrated them with a ray of dark energy. "Let's see how you deal with this!" Daolon Wong muttered an incantation as a dark circle appeared in front of him. A giant black scorpion appeared and advanced on the group, snapping it's claws menacingly.

"Whoa! Operation: Midnight Madness just got more interesting!" Mavis declared.

"Look out!" Linos shouted, diving towards Mavis and tackling her out of the way as the scorpion's tail pierced the concrete floor where she just stood. "Mavis, you've gotta stay focused! Watch out for that tail!" he shouted to the others. The scorpion tried to pull its tail free, but couldn't. It waved it's massive pincers, hoping to hit the teens, but they managed to move out of its range. Mala summoned a giant crystal shard and fired it straight into the scorpion demon's head, instantly killing it.

"Whoa… that was easy," Mavis declared with mild surprise. All of a sudden, the scorpion's body exploded, emitting a thick cloud of smoke that filled the entire warehouse.

"Wh-what is this?" Mala coughed, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Get to fresh air!" Linos shouted, quickly grabbing Tim and Mavis as they fled the warehouse into open air. They each coughed heavily to catch their breath.

"Man, I can't believe he got away! And he got the Coin too!" Mavis wailed and complained.

"We were so close too. Did anyone manage to catch what the emblem was?" Tim asked.

"It looked almost like… a unicorn… or a pegasus," Linos said.

"Wong must be long gone by now. Maybe we can regroup at my place and try another tracking spell," said Mala.

"Are you sure? We only have ingredients for one more," Tim warned.

"We don't have a choice. We have no idea what this Coin does, which makes it all the more dangerous in Daolon Wong's hands," said Linos. Suddenly, he noticed Mavis sway a little, "Whoa, Mavis, you ok?" he asked.

"Ye-yeah, of course!" she insisted. "My head kinda hurts a little, that's all. Well, there goes Operation: Midnight Madness," she said sadly.

"You know, I'm not feeling so good either," Mala said, rubbing her head. "Let's head back to my place." When they arrived at Mala's apartment, Mala plopped down onto he couch and groaned. "I-I think I just need to sit down for a while."

"M-me too," Mavis mumbled, falling upside-down on the couch next to her.

"S-something's wrong… W-we can't all be feeling like this," Tim said, nearly losing his balance.

"What are you talking about, Tim?" Liam slurred. "I-I feel fine." Liam suddenly lost all his energy and fell to the ground. He tried to stop falling by grabbing onto the counter, but his hand slipped and he knocked a cup onto the floor. He tried to push himself back up, but found himself without any strength. "Wh-what's happening to us?"

"I-it must have been that smoke," Mavis said.

"W-we have to get the Coin," Mala muttered weakly. She tried to push herself off the couch, but ended up falling on the ground instead, quickly passing out with a pained groan. "Pearl…" she muttered, as the same happened to Liam, Tim and Mavis.

Pearl appeared before Mala, lightly nudging her master's head with her own cool nose. She shifted into her battle form and lifted Mala, gently setting her onto the couch. She looked around the room, examining her master's fallen companions.

_'We have to get the Coin.'_ That was the last thing her master said before passing out. Pearl knew that she could not understand what was happening to them, and she certainly could not figure out how to reverse it. The only thing she knew that she could do was heed her master's last command. If luck was on her side, the Coin they lost to Daolon Wong would be able to help somehow.

Pearl stood atop the roof of Mala's apartment building as a crystal wolf and crow gathered beside her. They exchanged looks and nodded in agreement. No words were needed; they knew what they had to do. But they had no idea where to find Daolon Wong and they certainly did not have the means to locate him with a spell. So, they returned to the site of their previous battle. The wolf sniffed the area, searching for Daolon Wong's scent. It howled to announce to Pearl and the crow that it had the scent before dashing off to follow where it led.

* * *

"Haha, at last! One of the Coins is finally mine!" Daolon Wong cackled, holding the seven-sided coin between his fingers. "So, a winged unicorn, I wonder what sort of power this will give me. Energy blasts? Flight? Once I find that spell to absorb the Coin into my body, I'll test it out on those meddlesome children and they'll be sorry for getting in my way! They're almost as annoying as those wretched Chans… Oh who am I kidding? Nobody can possibly be worse than those Chans!" he spat bitterly.

"Ah, here we are. Hm, it will take some time, but once I've completed this spell, there isn't a chance those children will take this Coin from me!" Daolon Wong declared. All of a sudden, a purple crow swooped down and seized the Coin from right out of his hand. "What the?" The crow perched on the balcony above and tauntingly cawed at Wong as the Dark Chi Wizard seethed with anger.

"So, that crystal demon sent her little minions to fight instead? I'm not surprised. That scorpion demon I summoned emits a powerful toxic gas when destroyed. When exposed, those infected experience hallucinations as the poison slowly kills them. If I'm correct, they won't survive to see sunrise!" he cackled. All of a sudden, Daolon Wong shrieked in pain. He looked down and saw the crystal wolf's teeth biting into his leg. He raised his arm to strike the wolf with his scepter, but the wolf was able to move out of the way in time.

Pearl jumped up to Wong, unleashing a barrage of swift punches. Despite his frailty, Wong was able to dodge most of them before blasting Pearl back with dark energy from his scepter. "You know, I think I might prefer fighting all of you instead. None of you talk!" He proceeded to fire more dark energy blasts at Pearl, who jumped to avoid each one. The crow came down from its perch, clawing and pecking at Wong's face. He struggled against the crow and waved it off with his arms. Wong fired a dark energy blast at the wolf that ran towards him, forcefully knocking it back. He did the same with the crow, knocking it out of the sky as it dropped the Coin.

"Ha, finally! Enough of this pathetic attack of yours. I seem to remember your master cherishes you the most," Wong said, shooting Pearl in the arm. Black energy swirled across her arm, her arm turning to stone as it slowly spread to her torso. Pearl fell weakly to the ground as Wong stood over her. "Haha, let's test out this Coin's power on you then. I wonder how your master will feel when I send you back to her in pieces!" Wong whipped out the Coin and held it in his fingertips, aiming the face of the Coin at Pearl. The Coin began glowing a blindingly white light as it emitted a beam that struck Pearl. Wong cackled at the sight of this, but when the light dimmed, Pearl was unharmed. In fact, Wong's stone curse was completely undone and Pearl's arm was restored.

"What the? This wretched Coin didn't do anything!" he snapped.

If Pearl could talk, she'd probably say, "Wanna bet?" With her fully restored arm, Pearl leapt up and delivered a swift and powerful punch to Daolon Wong's stomach. He keeled over, feeling the air immediately leave his lungs as he painfully clutched his stomach. Pearl pushed him to the ground roughly before taking the Coin in her large paw. She waved at the wolf and crow to retreat as they dashed back to Mala's apartment. It was nearly sundown, so Pearl wasted no time in activating the Coin. The Coin's healing light spread across the apartment. As the light slowly faded, the teens groaned, each slowly stirring awake.

"Wh-what happened?" Mavis asked sleepily.

Liam groaned and pushed himself off the ground. He felt something wet on his chin and wiped the drool off with his sleeve. He noticed the pool of drool on the floor where his face just was and muttered, "Well, that's lovely."

"Pearl? Wha?" Mala whispered as Peal stood over her and helped her up. She changed back to her small form and hopped onto the table, nudging the Coin towards them with her nose.

"Hey, isn't that?" Tim started.

"It's the Coin that Daolon Wong got from us!" Mavis shouted, quickly seizing the Coin and examining it.

"But what happened after we got back? I don't remember anything that happened after we got back," said Mala.

"I think it was that smoke that came from that scorpion when we killed it. It must have done something to us. Maybe it was poisonous," Liam commented.

"Pearl… did you go out and get the Coin to save us?" Mala asked in realization. Pearl didn't respond and simply cocked her head to the side.

"Whoa, that's awesome!" Mavis exclaimed.

"So what's the big deal?" Liam asked.

"The deal is that I didn't tell her to do that. She did it on her own. Normally whenever we're in battle, I tell her to do something and she does it. But this time, she did something for us entirely on her own. She could have just stayed here and waited until we died or something, but she chose to go out and try to save us. I thought I already knew everything she was capable of, but it looks like there's still more about my constructs that I have to learn," Mala explained. "You really are one of a kind, aren't you?" she whispered to Pearl.

"So what does this Coin do then?" Mavis asked, handing it to Mala.

"Hm, it says… 'aura of purity'," she said, reading the back inscription.

"What does that mean?" Liam asked.

"Well, based on what the inscription says and what just happened, I'd say it's a healing power," Tim said.

"Ha! I bet Daolon Wong was pretty pissed when he tried to use it like the Bat Coin!" Mavis exclaimed. Pearl nodded her head, a silent action that Mavis noticed. "Whoa, he did? I wish I could have seen his face! Midnight Madness may have failed, but Operation: Scorpion Sting was a success and it's all thanks to Pearl!"

"Scorpion Sting? Did you-" Tim started.

"Just make that up? Yes, yes I did," she smirked. "Now get to putting that shielding spell on this baby," she said, tossing the Coin to Tim.

"Speaking of which, we're running low on ingredients for those tracking spells. I only have enough left for one," said Tim.

"We'll have to wait until Kuang's store restocks then," said Mala.

"Oh no!" Mavis shouted.

"What? What is it?" Liam asked in worry.

"Guys, we've completely forgotten something horrible! School starts this week!" she wailed in despair.

* * *

**Well, we originally had something else planned for this chapter, but as we thought about it, it didn't seem to work well with the flow of the chapter and it would have been very repetitive. Basically, the original plan was for the smoke to be a hallucinagenic nerve gas thing that would make those infected experience their greatest fears. Doing this for each of the characters would have really messed up the flow with the chapter, I feel not to mention be extremely repetitive. Plus, I feel like the whole "fears" thing for characters in series is something that's done a lot.**

**Next chapter: When Mala and Liam get sick, it's up to Tim and Mavis to battle Daolon Wong for the next Coin as they revisit the museum.**


	8. Callahan's Five

**Man, since I finished the previous chapter, I just could not wait to start this one. I think this one has become a strong favorite for me and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it!**

**Now I really want to thank you for the continued support in this story. I appreciate all the reviews, but when you are posting a review, please don't just say something generic like "Oh, I liked it! Yay!" Please actually tell me what you liked about it. What was your favorite part? What are you liking or not liking about the story? How do you think something should have been done differently? What do you hope to see in future chapters? At least give me some indication that you actually read the chapter.**

**As usual, we, Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper, do not own the Jackie Chan Adventure series, only our original characters and this story. **

* * *

"Uuugggghhhhhhhh!" Mavis groaned, dropping her head onto the cafeteria table. She let out a heavy sigh, wetting the table surface.

"Mavis, you have to get over it," Tim said.

"But I ca-han't!" she wailed in despair.

"Mavis, it's only the second day back. It's not that bad," said Mala.

"Not that bad? Not that bad?" she repeated loudly. "We had a whole two weeks of freedom! And now it's gone!"

"We still had homework, you know?" Liam pointed out.

"Ok, relative freedom," she corrected. "But that's besides the point! Hey, do you guys think that maybe you could…"

"Could what?" Liam asked, taking a sip of his soda.

"Mavis!" Mala gasped in shock. "Absolutely not! How could you even suggest that?"

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"Mavis, we are not going to destroy the school," Liam lectured her.

"Ok, maybe you did know what I was going to say…" Mavis said dejected.

"Yeah, and we certainly aren't going to do it on purpose this time," Mala added.

"Oh come on, it doesn't have to be a big one like last time! Maybe just a little explosion, something that gets us a half day? It's Friday; it's practically the weekend. Huh? Huh?" Mavis asked. When Mala and Liam simply stared at her, she spoke, "Ok, I'm sensing a negative vibe here, now. Yeah, I'll take that as a no. Spoilsports," she muttered. "Oh, yeah guys you don't want to eat that," she said, as Liam and Mala dug their forks into the meatloaf.

"What? The meatloaf? Why not?" asked Liam.

"Have I taught you nothing Liam? Mavis Callahan's rules for surviving high school number 32: Never trust the cafeteria meatloaf! That's where they put all the week's leftovers!" she announced dramatically.

"32? Exactly how many of these rules are there?" Mala asked.

"But they got a new lunch lady!" he argued.

"Didn't they only hire a new lunch lady because they had to make some cuts in order to pay for the damages that you two caused?" Tim asked, pointing his fork at them while he spoke.

"Aha! You see? They hired a lunch lady who works for less, which can only mean that her quality of food is much lower than the last lunch lady!"

"Oh, it can't be that bad," Mala said surely with a brush of her hand.

"Words that will be engraved on your tombstones. Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

"Hello? Yoohoo? Mala, you home?" Mavis asked, opening the door to Mala's apartment with her spare key.

"Over here…" Mavis heard a weak and groggy groan come from behind the couch. Mala was curled up in a ball on the floor, tightly clutching her stomach.

"Uhuh, that looks about right," Mavis said, examining Mala from over the couch.

"She's sick too, isn't she?" Tim walked in, carrying Liam with one arm over his shoulder. Liam's head hung low and he groaned in the same manner as Mala.

"E-yup! I warned you, didn't I?" Mavis asked, casually shaking her head in disappointment.

"M-Mavis, sweetie, I love you, but p-please… shut up," she groaned before wincing in pain and tightly clutching her stomach.

"That was rhetorical, Mala. Of course I know I warned you and I know you know I was right," Mavis smiled proudly.

"Come on, big guy, let's put you down right here," Tim said, setting Liam on the couch.

"You too, Mala," said Mavis, bending down to lift Mala onto the couch.

"No no no, don't touch me. As long as I don't move… or breathe or do anything, I'll be fine," she muttered.

"Uh, ok. I'm sure the floor is very comfortable," Mavis said.

"Oh, it is. It's nice and cool. And after laying here for a few hours, your body starts getting numb and it starts to feel soft," Mala mumbled weakly.

"I don't understand how this happened! We're demons; we almost never get sick!" Liam cried.

"Never underestimate the power of high school cafeteria meatloaf," Mavis said.

"Ooooooh, I can't take this. I have to get this meatloaf out of me! Get it out!" he shouted, gripping his stomach.

"Aaahh, no yelling!" Mala shouted back as her shout gradually progressed into a pained whimper.

"My god, this is literally a thousand times worse than I thought," Tim commented.

"I warned them, but they just wouldn't listen. At least they stayed away from the lasagne," Mavis replied.

"Ok, this madness has to end," Tim said, after watching the two groan and moan in pain. "Mavis, pass me the Winged Unicorn Coin, will you?"

"Huh, what? Uh, why do you need that right at this moment?" Mavis asked with a nervous laugh.

"So I can cure Liam and Mala of this ridiculous stomach virus, of course."

"Uh, well, you see that might be a bit of a problem…" she said nervously, tapping her index fingers against each other.

"Mavis, what did you do?" Tim eyed suspiciously.

"Well, you know Phineas, my pet bearded dragon, he wasn't feeling to well so I used the Coin to make him feel better. I walked away to go the bathroom real quick and when I got back… he sorta ate it," she squeaked with a nervous and cheeky smile.

"Your pet lizard… ate the Winged Unicorn Coin?" he asked in disbelief.

"Bearded dragon," she corrected. "Phineas isn't some common reptile; he's majestic; a dragon… with a beard!"

"Hang on, you're telling me that your pet swallowed the Coin?"

"Yes! That's what I've been saying. Boy, Tim, you really need to work on your hearing."

"My heari- Mavis! That's not the point. The point is that you let your pet liz-bearded dragon," Tim corrected himself when he saw Mavis' glare, "swallow a powerful magical artifact! Do you know how irresponsible that is?"

"Oh it'll be fine! You put the shielding spell on it so D Wong can't possibly trace it back to my little Phineas and it should pass through his system by the next day or so. I've been monitoring his bowel movements and everything!"

"Oh, Mavis," Tim groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead as he shook his head side to side. "Ok, new plan, you get them some fluids and I'll start working on the next tracking spell."

"Yeah ok, but if any of them so much as throws up on me!"

"Just go," he said, ushering her to the kitchen. Mavis marched off to the kitchen as Tim prepared the last of his ingredients. She came back into the living room with two glasses of water and set one down on the coffee table and the other next to Mala on the floor. "Hmm…" she thought out loud. She quickly dashed back into the kitchen before returning with a handful of straws. She took out one at a time before connecting each of the straws together. Once she had one long enough, she stuck it in the glass before guiding the other end to Mala's mouth. "Come on, Mala, have some water," she urged. Mala took a large sip through the straw and muttered a meek little "thank you", after which Mavis did the same for Liam.

"Ok, done!" Tim announced after several minutes. "Ok, it looks like the next Coin is at…" he started, examining the vision in the smoke.

"Hey, isn't that the museum? The same one we broke into two weeks ago?" Mavis asked.

"Hey, yeah that is! It looks like they're getting a new exhibit for display. The next Coin must be part of it."

"Uh oh, looks like we're not the only ones who know about it now," Mavis said, pointing to the smoke as the vision showed Daolon Wong walking towards the museum. "We have to go now!"

"We can't possibly stand up to Daolon Wong like this! Half our team - the super powered half, might I add - are both sick with a severe case of food poisoning and I'm all out of ingredients for attack spells!"

"We still have the Cat, Bat and Falcon Coin," Mavis said, holding the three up between her fingers.

"No offence, Mavis, but I doubt that's going to help us against someone who can control dark energy and summon demons."

"Well, it's not like we have any other options. Either you and I go down to the museum to kick some Dark Chi Wizard butt or we stand by and let him take this next Coin."

"Ugh, I hate it when you use logic against me," Tim sighed in annoyance.

"It doesn't happen often, but when it does, you can't win against the Callahan Thunder!" she beamed.

"All right, we'll improvise. Here's hoping nothing bad happens."

"Great, Tim, jinx it before we even walk out the door," Mavis remarked, lightly knocking the wooden coffee table.

"Wait…" Mala grunted.

"What is it Mala?" Tim asked, bending down to his knees in front of Mala.

"W-we can still help," she murmured, raising her head slightly.

"No offence, Mala, but you can barely stand," Mavis pointed out.

"No, I mean another way. L-Liam and I can give you some of our demon Chi."

"Hold on, you mean to tell me that you can share your powers… and you didn't bring this up before?!" Mavis barked.

"Mavis, priorities!" Tim scolded.

"But, think of all the times I could have been shooting crystals or controlling shadows and-aw…." Mavis pouted sadly when Tim silenced her.

"Wait, we can do that?" Liam asked in a pant from the couch.

"I've seen it before. You'll get a bit of our powers and you'll change to look a bit like our demon forms," she explained.

"And you're sure this'll work?" Tim asked.

"Positive," she answered, weakly holding out her hand for Tim to take.

"Ok." Tim took Mala's hand in his and suddenly felt a surge of power envelop him. He almost immediately let go of her hand, but the short time they held contact was enough for Mala to transfer a small portion of her Chi to him.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Tim, you look badass!" Mavis chortled.

"I-I feel…" Tim couldn't find the words to describe the sensation. His body didn't feel any different, but when he walked up to the mirror, he nearly jumped back in surprise. "Whoa!" his skin was pale blue like Mala's, his hair white and eyes red too, though they didn't glow like hers. His ears were pointed and he was covered in crystal armor from head to toe just like Mala. "This… this is incredible!"

"Me! Me next! Me, me, me!" Mavis bubbled, jumping up and down with anticipation. She hopped over to Liam, who weakly held out his own hand.

"Good luck," he whispered with a weak smile.

"The Callahan Thunder appreciates your concern, but she doesn't need luck!" Mavis boasted with a cheeky grin, taking Liam's hand in hers. She tried to keep a tight hold, but had to pull away because of the strange sensation the power transferal sent through her entire body. She stepped back a bit and looked at her hands. They were sharp and pointed like Liam's in his demon form and her skin was now a dark brown. She rushed over to the mirror, pushing Tim aside. Her eyes, like Tim's, were now red and her hair was darker. She had little horns sprouting on the top of her head and little wings sprouting from her arms. "This might just be the coolest day of my life!"

"Ok, you two, uh, sit tight. We'll be back!" Tim said as Mala and Liam simply waved with a weak arm and groaned. "Ok, so how does Mala do the wing thing?" Tim asked, as they made their way up to the roof.

"I dunno, try thinking 'wings' reaaalllly hard!" Mavis suggested.

"Well, all right. Come on, wings," he muttered when all of a sudden, the crystal apparatuses floating over his back morphed into wings. While Mala's wings original had three crystal segments, Tim's had only two. "Huh, well whaddya know? It worked! Let's head over to the museum before Wong gets away with the Coin." Tim jumped into the air and desperately tried to find his balance as he flew. "Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Don't fight it, just relax!" Mavis shouted to him.

"How are you doing this so easily?" Tim cried in amazement as Mavis glided next to him flawlessly.

"What can I say? I'm a natural flyer," she boasted. "Plus I had a lot of practice with the Falcon Coin!"

As they came up to the museum, they landed on a rooftop right across the street. Mavis landed easily while Tim fidgeted to slow his descent. "Whoa, ok, slow, slow," he repeated to himself. He slid on the rooftop, but managed to regain his balance.

"It doesn't look like Wong's here yet. I mean, there would be a lot of smoke, wouldn't there?" Mavis asked. All of a sudden, a large explosion came from inside the museum, shattering some of the windows as thick smoke poured out. "Well… that's our cue!"

"Let's go. We don't know how to use Liam and Mala's powers so the longer we stay, the more of an advantage Wong'll have over us."

"Ten four! Operation: Callahan's Five is a go!"

"Wait… Why Callahan's Five?" asked Tim, pulling his foot back from the rooftop edge as he turned to face Mavis.

"Well, because we were already at this museum once to steal something and now we're back at it again. Its like a sequel! That's why they called the sequel to Ocean's Eleven Ocean's Twelve."

"But last time it made sense because there was four of us; this time it's only you and me, so it should technically be Callahan's Two," Tim argued.

"But this is the sequel! Everyone knows the sequel gets one more number value than the last!"

"They called it Ocean's Twelve because Julia Roberts was part of the heist too, making the heist headcount come to twelve."

"It's Callahan's Five, Tim! It doesn't make sense any other way. Callahan's Two just sounds stupid."

"Ugh, why do I bother?" Tim asked himself.

"I wonder that too. You know you can never win against Callahan logic!" They made their way through one of the museum windows and carefully wandered through the halls in case they ran into any guards that were still around.

"Well, it doesn't look like we'll have to worry about the guards," Tim said, noticing the four unconscious security guards on the floor.

"Over here!" Mavis whispered. They traveled down the corridor as could pick up a voice that got louder as they grew closer to it.

"Aha, here we are. What a coincidence that another Coin brings me back here, at least this time I don't have those meddling ki- Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Daolon Wong angrily barked as Tim and Mavis jumped out of the corridor, blocking his path to the exit. "Wait, you're the two human children. Why do you look like your demon friends?" he asked confused.

"It's a little something called 'sharing'," Mavis smirked proudly.

"Oh, so they shared their power with you. That would explain their _unfortunate_ absence. Unfortunate for you, that is!" Wong quickly whipped out his sceptre and fired a dark energy blast at the duo. Mavis and Tim jumped to the side to avoid the blast.

Tim waved his arms, trying to mimic the way Mala would form crystal shards, but instead spikes appeared in front of him traveling forward. "What? That's not what I meant to do!" he frantically whined.

Mavis opened her mouth to unleash a sonic scream, but coughed roughly when nothing came out. "What the? How does he do the screaming thing?" She opened her mouth to try again, but like before, nothing came out. "Ugh! This is nothing like the Bat Coin!" she fumed.

"Haha, looks like you two need some practice with your new powers. Allow me to help!" Daolon Wong held open his hands as dark tendrils came out of the mouths on his palms. These tendrils slithered over to Tim and Mavis, wrapping tightly around their bodies as he raised them into the air. "Too bad your friends couldn't give you some advice on how to use their powers! Maybe if they had, you would have at least stood a chance. I think perhaps I'll take some of that Demon Chi instead."

"Not a chance! You let us go right… NOW!" As Mavis shouted at the top of her lungs, a piercingly loud sonic scream shot forward from her mouth, blasting Daolon Wong across the room. His dark tendrils disappeared, freeing Tim and Mavis as they landed on the floor.

"Mavis, how did you do that?" Tim asked in amazement.

"I-I don't know. I just got really mad and I really wanted to scream in his face!"

"Well, whatever you did worked! Let me try." Tim closed his eyes and took a deep breath to concentrate. Suddenly, he punched the floor of the museum, creating a trail of spiking crystals that continued straight to Wong. However, Wong managed to avoid it at the last second.

"Oh no you don't!" Mavis unleashed another sonic scream, following after Wong as he ran across the room. Her sonic scream hit the crystals Tim had just formed, shattering them to pieces and sending them hurtling straight towards Wong, who took cover behind a display case. "Whoa, did you see that?"

"I did!"

"Looks like we've learned something that even Liam and Mala didn't know!" They moved up to the display case they saw Wong duck behind, preparing to ambush him, but when they did, he wasn't there. "What the? He was here just a second ago!"

"Surprise!" Wong cackled, surprising the two of them with a dark energy attack. The force of the blast knocked them right in the middle of the room.

As Mavis pushed herself up and groaned, she looked up to see a chandelier dangling in the centre of the ceiling. "Tim," she said, looking to him before motioning to the chandler with her head. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I sure hope so," he said nervously. He closed his eyes in concentration again before disappearing completely.

"I think that's about enough fun you two have had tonight! It's too bad, you might have actually won if you brought the half of your team that actually stood a chance. But you children are always so arrogant; you think you can do whatever you want without any consequences! Well, the consequence for defying Daolon Wong is death!" he bellowed, raising his staff.

"More like Daolon Wrong!" Mavis swiftly kicked her legs under Wong's knocking him roughly onto the floor as the impact momentarily stunned him. Mavis jumped away and placed her hands on the ground, summoning shadow tendrils of her own that held Wong in place. "Tim, now!"

"What?" Wong looked up and gasped, seeing Tim reappear right above the chandelier.

"Here goes nothing!" Tim said hopefully, slicing through the cord with a crystal blade. Wong screamed as the chandelier fell from the ceiling and crashed onto the ground below, shattering most of the glass ornaments than hung onto it. Tim rejoined Mavis on the ground and when the dust cleared, a small silver coin rolled over to their feet. "I can't believe that worked!" Tim cried in disbelief.

"I can! I saw it on a cartoon once!" Mavis beamed, proudly holding the coin. "Oooh, look another birdie!"

"I wonder what this one does," Tim added. "Wait, you saw that in a cartoo-Nevermind."

"Let's get back to Mala and Liam and find out." As they flew back to Mala's apartment, Mavis suddenly stopped, "Oh wait, just one second."

"What?" Tim asked.

Mavis disappeared down the opposite direction of Mala's apartment before returning a couple minutes later with a lizard in her arms. "I figured I'd bring Phineas along. Maybe he can still use the Coin even though he ate it. Isn't that right my majestic little snuggle muffin?" Mavis childishly asked Phineas. "Who's my majestic dragon? Who's my little booby trap?" She lightly scratched Phineas' upper chest and neck, earning an affectionate growl that hummed from his throat.

When they returned to Mala's apartment, Liam was no longer on the couch and was instead sprawled out on the floor while Mala was in the bathroom.

"Hey, Mala, how you doin'?" Mavis asked tenderly.

"Gr-great… someone threw up; I don't know where and I can't remember if it was me or Liam… but someone definitely threw up in my apartment" Mala muttered groggily.

"Well, you are sitting right by the toilet. Do you think it might be you?"

"Maybe…"

"Let's just pop open the seat cover and see, ok?"

"Mkay…" Mala murmured.

"Well, good news, the toilet is vomit free. So then who vomited… and where? Detective Callahan is on the case!" Mavis declared, raising her arm into the air.

"Uh yeah, Detective Callahan? I think I solved your missing vomit mystery," said Tim, pointing to a large potted plant in the corner of the living room.

"T-tell Mala I owe her a new plant. I'll get her something nice to replace the one I ruined," Liam muttered from the floor.

"With your vomit?" Mavis asked.

"Yes… the plant I ruined with my vomit," he answered, far too weak to argue.

"Ok, well, the good news is, we got the Coin!" Tim announced.

"Yay" and "great" they both whispered weakly.

"And we also brought my pet bearded dragon Phineas! With him, you'll feel better in no time!" Mavis beamed. It turns out, Mavis was correct. Phineas was able to utilize the Coin's power since he swallowed it and was able to cure Liam and Mala of their food poisoning. Once they were cured, Tim and a relatively reluctant Mavis their borrowed Demon Chi.

"I gotta admit, you two did an amazing job!" Liam exclaimed.

"Yeah, even with having never used our powers before, you actually managed to beat Wong and get the Coin. I'm really impressed," added Mala.

"Oh, we know," Mavis said confidently. "So what's the latest addition to our collection do?"

"Phoenix immortality," Mala answered. "The power to protect the user from all manner of physical harm and damage. It basically makes you indestructible."

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a thick choking followed by a wet splash sound. Mavis looked under the coffee table and smiled. "Good news, guys! Looks like we don't have to wait for the Winged Unicorn Coin to pass through. Phineas just threw it up!" Mavis reached under and pulled out a vomit drenched coin.

"Ewww!" they all squealed.

"Mavis, for your sake, I hope you're cleaning that up. I've already had someone else vomit in my home and I would like to keep this as a one time thing," Mala said.

"All right, all right, I'll clean it. Who's my little champion? Who threw up the coin we needed? Who's my good boy? That's right, it's you!" Mavis chirped, affectionately rubbing Phineas as he hissed in delight. "So, anyone else hungry or is it just me?"

"I'm starving. Anything but meatloaf, though," said Liam.

"Seconded," Mala chimed.

The four went out to a nearby pizza place and sat outside enjoying their normal cheese pizza, since Liam and Mala insisted against the meat lover's pizza for obvious reasons. Phineas sat coiled around Mavis' shoulder, trying every so often to sneak a little bite of her pizza.

"So, why exactly did you call this operation Callahan's Five?" Liam asked.

"Oh, here we go," Tim muttered.

"Because, this was like the sequel to the first time we were at the museum!" Mavis argued.

"But, when it was Callahan's Four, there was actually four of us. This time it was just you and Tim," added Mala.

"No, you're not getting it! It's the sequel, so the number has to be one more, so it's five!" Mavis was cut short when she noticed someone walk up to their table. "Yo, spiky head, can we help you with something?"

"Mala…" the boy said.

Mala quietly gasped and her eyes widened in hearing that familiar voice. Her friends looked at her face in worry. She nearly froze in place, but was able to slowly turn her head to look at the person who called her name. Though she had only seen him in this form once before, there was no mistaking it. "Drago…" she whispered breathlessly.

Liam, Tim and Mavis stayed quiet while Mala and this "Drago" simply stared at each other in silence. "Ok, now we're Callahan's Five!" Mavis whispered loudly.

* * *

**So, I think it's fair to say that Mavis is also our resident pop culture refrencer. So, fingers crossed for more moments like that! ****And yes, Drago is finally back, but as I'm sure most of your smartiepants guessed, not everyone is going to be happy about that.**

**Next chapter: Mala deals with Drago's return while the next Coin is discovered in an aquarium.**


	9. Swimming with the Fishes

**So, Drago is officially back! But his return may not be entirely welcome by all. Just a reminder to please put a bit more into your reviews other than "I like this" and such. Not that I don't appreciate the feedback, but please tell me why you like/didn't like it. **

**We do not own Jackie Chan Adventures, only our characters and this plot. Any canon elements mentioned are property of the show's creators. **

* * *

"Demon Stalkers… Shadow Hunters? No, Night Crawlers? No, no, that one's been done before," Mavis muttered, scratching something out on a piece of paper with her pencil. "Dark Slayers? Shadow Slayers?" she continued asking herself.

"Mavis, are you sure that's really the best thing to be doing right now?" asked Liam.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure your best friend could use your support right about now," said Tim.

"Well, she seems perfectly content wearing a hole in her carpet with all that back and forth pacing. When she's ready to talk about it, I'll totally be there for her." As Mavis spoke, Mala paced back and forth, the wooden floor squeaking beneath her heels as she spun.

"So, uh, Mala, do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" Tim asked meekly. All of a sudden, Mala whipped her arm with an angry scream, throwing a crystal shard straight into the wall. "OK! We don't have to talk about it!" Tim squealed, ducking against the couch.

"Oh!" Mala covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm so sorry, Tim! I didn't mean to do that, honest!"

"Oh, I think you meant to do that, just not at Tim," Liam said.

"So you gonna tell us who that guy was, or not?" Mavis asked.

"Ok," Mala took a deep breath, "Um, do you remember when I told you about why I left San Francisco?"

"Him? You mean that was the guy who nearly flattened San Francisco?" Liam shouted.

"Ok, hold on. Start from the beginning!" exclaimed Tim.

"Ok, his name is Drago. The first time we met was when we were kids and we really hit it off. We were both half-demons, and we bonded over that fact. But when his mother died, his demon father, Shen Du, was going to take him in. I didn't see him again since until a couple months ago," she explained.

"Wait wait, Shen Du? The Shen Du? Fire Demon Sorcerer Shen Du? The guy who's twelve talismans inspired the creation of the very thirteen coins we're chasing after? You mean that guy is his son?" Liam exclaimed in shock.

"I thought you guys said Shen Du was a total pussy," Mavis said.

"I didn't say that," Liam protested.

"Ok, yeah, 'pussy' was my word, but I was just paraphrasing what you said."

"Ok, yes, Shen Du is by far one of the weakest Demon Sorcerers, but he's still a force to be reckoned with compared to humans."

"Yeah. Before I met you guys, he was my only real friend," said Mala.

"Awwwwww," Mavis squealed, running up to Mala and tightly hugging her.

"So then what happened when you met up with him?" Tim asked.

"Well, he asked me to help him locate the seven Demon Chis of his aunts and uncles."

"Huh?" Mavis asked, cocking her eyebrow in confusion.

"Ok, when a demon is banished to the Netherworld by a Chi Wizard, they usually use some sort of object of magical power. During the process, a bit of that demon's Chi can cling onto that object," she explained.

"Oh, so it's like when you two lent us your Demon Chi, right?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Anyway, he wanted to find the seven Chis of his family to take over the world. Although, when he asked for my help, he told me he was going to use it to create a world for half-demons. And I believed him. At the time, I thought that's what I wanted: a world where people like Drago and I could be among our own."

"At the time?" asked Liam.

"Well, you guys have shown me that demons and humans can live together. Why would I need a world only of half-demons when I have you guys?"

"Awwwwwwwwww!" Mavis squealed, hugging Mala again.

"Ok, ok, Mavis," Mala sighed in defeat, lightly patting Mavis' back until she moved out of the hug. "And by the time I figured out what he was really planning, it was too late. I was just getting ready to leave the city when he somehow managed to get a hold of all the Demon Chis. Within minutes, there were demons everywhere. I knew there was only one thing I could do. I went to confront him, but he was too strong. Some Chi Wizards - it's a long story - managed to defeat him though. The last time I saw him, he was being dragged into the Demon Netherworld."

"So then how'd he get back here?" Tim asked.

"I don't know! Wh-what is he even doing here?" she cried frantically.

"Oh, here we go," Mavis muttered, as Mala began pacing back and forth again.

"It doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, could he have gotten back on his own somehow?" Tim asked.

"Nope, it doesn't work like that. Normally by default, demons could travel through the human and demon world freely. But once they get banished by a Chi Wizard or magical spell, that door closes for them. They can't open the door themselves anymore, but someone else can always open for them," said Liam.

"So then maybe someone opened the door for him?" Tim asked.

"But who opened the door then?" Mala asked next.

"Why don't we ask him?" Mavis suggested.

"No way! I am not talking to him!" Mala protested angrily.

"Well, I'm sure he'll tell us. He has been sitting outside your door since we got back."

"Wait, what?" Mala turned to Mavis. Liam and Tim quickly jumped out of their seats and made for the front door, fighting and pushing each other to look through the peephole. Mala joined them and shoved them aside before looking for herself. Sure enough, Drago was sitting on the small bench in the hallway, nervously tapping his foot as he stared at the ceiling, occasionally glancing at Mala's door now and then. "I-I can't deal with this right now! I need some air." Mala opened her front door, which immediately alerted Drago as his head shot up. They locked eyes for a moment as Drago stood from his seat on the bench. Seconds passed but to the two of them it felt like hours. A storm of emotions swirled inside Mala as she stared into his eyes. She was shocked, afraid, angry beyond belief, but somewhere beneath all that fear and rage, there was a tiny little spark of relief, almost happiness at seeing him again. But the instant she felt any joy at seeing him, those feelings were instantly buried over with unforgiving rage and heartbreak. When she was finally able to tear herself away, she sped down the hallway to the stairs, followed by an awkward troupe of her friends, who were left uncertain of what to do or say.

Mala kept going down the street, not looking back to see if Drago or even her friends were following, until she reached Kuang's store. "Mala, what a pleasant surprise! Oh, something is wrong…" he said as Mala sat down at the counter. "What's the matter, my dear?" he asked, as Tim, Mavis and Liam joined them in the store. Kuang poured a cup of tea and handed it to Mala, who eagerly accepted the cup.

"Two words, Kuang: Ex-boyfriend," said Mavis.

"Technically, that's one word," Liam said.

"No, it's hyphenated!" Mavis argued, "That's like combining two words but not entirely, so they're two words… right?"

"Technically he was never my boyfriend. Can we please talk about something else please?" Mala exclaimed.

"Well, I've restocked those ingredients you ordered last week!" Kuang smiled.

"Oh, perfect! I guess I'll start working on the next tracking spell once we get back to your place," said Tim.

"Actually, I've been getting a lot of complaints about the smell from all the Chi spell preparations," said Mala, "So I don't think we'll be able to do Chi spells at my place anymore."

"What about your house, Tim?" Liam asked.

"Are you kidding? My mom is a clean freak! She throws a fit whenever I leave a dirty sock on the floor of my bedroom! Who knows what she'd do if she caught whiff of Chi spell ingredients."

"Well we can't do it at my place. Phineas has a very sensitive digestive system," said Mavis.

"Yeah, we noticed," Liam said, "and doing them at the clock tower probably won't be a good idea. I don't want to draw unnecessary attention to my home and the last thing I need around there is someone thinking that what they're smelling is a dead body."

"So then where are we gonna prepare my Chi spells?" asked Tim.

"Oh, why don't you just use my workshop?" Kuang suggested.

"Workshop?" they all asked.

"Of course! When my father ran the store, I would study in his workshop just in the back of the store. You're welcome to use it for your spell preparations!" Kuang made his way over to the door behind the counter as the others followed. He opened the door and stepped aside, revealing a small workshop with bookshelves, a single desk and stool.

"Kuang, this is perfect! Do you mind if we?" Tim started.

"Oh, by all means, go right ahead," Kuang smiled. "Oh, and there's been a boy standing outside my shop since you got here. Do you know him?" Mavis, Tim and Liam quickly dashed out to the counter and sure enough Drago was standing against a lamppost right outside the front of the store.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," said Mala.

"Aw, he's following you around like a cute little puppy dog," Mavis squealed.

"Don't sympathize with him, Mavis," Mala cut in.

"Mala, I know you want to avoid him, but it looks like he's just going to keep following us - or rather you - wherever we go. You might as well talk to him," said Liam.

"But-"

"You'll feel better once you get it over with. We'll be in the back working on the tracking spell," said Tim.

"Ugh, easy for you to say," she groaned. As her friends disappeared into the back of the store, Mala walked out of the store. Drago pushed himself off the lamppost he was leaning on and straightened up as she approached him.

"Y-you look different," he said, nervously scratching the back of his head.

"I am different," she answered. "After San Francisco, I needed a change."

"Well, you look good," he complimented.

"What are you doing here, Drago? How did you even get here? The last time I checked, you got yourself a one way ticket to the Demon Netherworld!"

"It's a long story."

"So make it short."

"Ok, well after I got banished by that old man, my old man and I ran into my aunts and uncles. They took their Chi back and roughed me up a bit. I deserved it though, after everything I did… to you," he said, looking at her sadly.

"I won't argue with that, but that doesn't explain how you got back."

"Well, I had a little help in that department. Your mom."

"My mother? Lang Yan?" Mala asked in surprise.

"It wasn't easy though; I had to fight her for her portal back here."

"Portal? She couldn't have opened her portal after my father banished her!"

"Do you remember when Chan's old man tried to drain your Chi and the spell your father placed on your old necklace protected you before it shattered?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, when that happened, the spell that bound your mother's portal weakened."

"Wait, if she had all that time with her portal opened, then why did she wait until you got banished to open it? That doesn't make sense!"

"Mala, I'm not going to pretend I know what goes on in your mom's head, but she gave me a second chance," he said, reaching his hand down to grasp hers. "After I was banished, I realized that none of those things were important. The Demon Chi, supreme control? You're the only thing that matters to me, Mala. Please, I-I want to make it up to you," he pleaded.

"I trusted you once Drago and it brought me nothing but heartache. You tricked me into helping you take over the world and I'm supposed to believe that now that you've lost, you've had some sort of epiphany? That you're good now?" she cried, tearing her hand from his.

"Mala, please, I know how it sounds, but please just give me a chance to prove to you that I've changed!"

"What did you think was going to happen, Drago? Did you honestly think that you could just come here and apologize and I'd forgive you? You destroyed any chance of me ever trusting you again!"

"Mala!" Mavis shouted. Drago and Mala turned to see her friends running out of the store towards them. "We've got the next Coin; it's at the aquarium!"

"Coin? What are they talking about? Mala, who are these people?" Drago asked.

"They're my friends, real friends. It's something you wouldn't know anything about."

"Ouch," said Mavis.

"Mavis!" Tim scolded.

"Right, private conversation, sorry," she said, zipping her lips. "But in all seriousness, we should probably go and get that Coin before Daolon Wrong shows up."

"Mala, what's going on?" he asked.

"It's none of your concern," she said, "Just… just stay out of our way."

* * *

"Ok, the Coin has to be somewhere inside this aquarium," said Tim as they walked through the hall surrounded by fish tanks. "I've already set the security cameras on a loop and disabled the security systems, so we should be fine."

"Man, there's like hundreds of tanks here! How are we supposed to know which one the Coin is in?" Mavis exclaimed. "By the way, I'm calling this operation 'Shark Tank', just so everyone knows."

"Uh, guys, I think I found the solution to that roadblock," said Mala. They joined her by the window display of one of the larger tanks and noticed something small and shiny sitting at the bottom of the tank.

"This is one of those outdoor tanks. We can get to up from upstairs," said Tim.

"But I'm afraid you won't be going there!" The four turned around to see the demon hunter standing before them with his sword at the ready.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" Mavis moaned.

"You see, once I figured out you were searching for these strange coins, I went looking for one on my own. I figured it was only a matter of time before you would start looking for it."

"So this was a trap?" Linos asked.

"That's right! The two of you were smart to use your human forms to mask your demon aura, so I figured instead of going after you, why not have you just come to me?" He charged forward, his sword ready to swing, but Mala stepped forward and blocked it with her pink claws.

"Linos, you take Tim outside and get the Coin! Mavis and I will deal with the hunter!" she cried.

"All right, you two be careful!" Linos cried back as he grabbed Tim and flew down the hall.

"Oh no you don't!" the hunter cried, throwing three knives towards them. Mala stomped her foot and a crystal pillar rose from the floor, blocking the knives as Linos and Tim disappeared. Mala roughly pushed the hunter back, who stumbled to regain his balance.

"All right, Mr. hunter, let's see how you deal with the Bat Coin!" Mavis grinned. Just as she opened her mouth to unleash the Coin's sonic scream, Mala clapped her hand over Mavis' mouth to silence her.

"No, Mavis! That sonic scream could shatter the glass of the fish tanks!"

"No! Not the fish!" Mavis gasped. The hunter threw more knives at them as Mala shielded Mavis with her own body. "Mala! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine! Crystal armor," she winked. Mala jumped up to engage the hunter in a clash of blades.

"All right Callahan, can't let Mala have all the fun!" Mavis ran up to the hunter and grabbed him around the shoulders from behind.

"Argh!" he cried, trying to get Mavis off him. "Why are you helping these demons?" he shouted.

"These demons happen to be my best friends!" she shouted back.

"Friends? Demons are evil! They don't know the meaning of the word 'friendship'!"

"They're not like other demons and they're better than most of the other humans I know!" Mavis argued. The hunter jumped onto his back, the impact knocking the air out of Mavis. As she coughed to clear her chest, the hunter grabbed the hood of her sweater and stabbed his sword through it and into the floor, pinning her down.

"That should keep you out of my hair. And now for you!" He pulled out a dried gecko and aimed it at Mala, muttering a spell. A bright green light shot out from the gecko and hit Mala right in the chest. The energy of the Chi spell surged around her as she struggled to move.

"Y-you're a Chi Wizard?" she asked, shocked.

"Not quite," he grinned. "My parents were killed by your kind before my training could be completed. But I know enough spells to put demons like you in your place. Any last words?"

"I've got one!"

The hunter blinked in surprise as he turned to the source of the voice, only to be greeted by a roaring fireball. The fireball struck him and force knocked him roughly against the wall, knocking him out in the process. The dried gecko fell to the floor and Drago incinerated it with a blast of fire. The spell around Mala faded and Drago rushed to her side to help her up, but she roughly pulled herself away from him.

"Drago, what are you doing here?" Mala asked angrily.

"I figured you might need my help," he said.

"We don't need your help!" she argued.

"It looked like you needed my help just now." Mala narrowed her eyes at him and was rather surprised when Drago didn't do the same. That was always what he would do when they got into a disagreement back in the junkyard in San Francisco.

"Uh, guys, a little help here?" Mavis asked. Mala made her way over to Mavis and pulled the sword that kept her pinned out of the ground. "Thanks," she said, as Mala helped her up. "Check it out, cool souvenir, eh? Whoa-ho-ho, is that what his demon form looks like?"

"Uh, yes," Drago responded.

"Dude, that is awesome! You're like a dragon!" she beamed excitedly.

"I am a dragon," he said.

"Even better!"

"Mavis!" Mala cried in annoyance.

"Sorry, Mala, but a dragon fire demon? You're making it real hard not to like this guy."

"So, are either of you going to fill me in on what you're doing here and who that is?" Drago asked, pointing to the unconscious hunter.

"Long story, hot shot. We'll fill you in later!" cried Mavis.

"Let's just meet back up with Tim and Linos," said Mala.

* * *

"Whoa!" Tim cried, diving behind a flipped patio table. "Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Daolon Wong showed up," he muttered to himself.

"Tim, do something!" Linos cried, repelling Wong's spells with a shadow wall.

Tim stood up over the patio table, ready to fire a spell, but Wong beat him to it. The spell knocked Tim over the railing and into the outdoor tank below. "Tim!" Linos cried, looking over the railing to see Tim surfacing as he whipped the water off his face.

"I'm ok!" Tim gave Linos a thumbs up as he returned to fighting Wong. As Tim put his glasses back on, he noticed something shining at the bottom of the tank. _'The Coin!'_ Without a second thought, Tim dove into the tank and swam as fast as he could to the bottom. The Coin slipped through his fingers the first few times he tried to grab it, but he finally clenched the Coin in his fist before swimming back up to the surface. Along the way, he caught a glimpse of something grey swimming on the other side of the tank. It was too blurry to make out underwater, but when he surfaced, he noticed a dorsal fin coming straight towards him. "Oh no, oh no!" he cried frantically. He braced himself for what was coming towards him, but stopped when he heard a playful squeaking. "Oh, a dolphin. Thank god," he sighed as the dolphin squeaked at him again, before splashing him with water. "Great…" he muttered, before swimming to the edge of the tank and pulling himself up. He tried to shake some of the water that was clinging to his clothes off to little avail before looking at the Coin in his palm. It was eight-sided, shaped like an octagon, and had a dark blue shark emblem. "A shark," he chuckled to himself over the irony, "of course. Linos!"

Linos appeared at the railing as Tim called for him. "What is it?"

"Here!" Tim shouted, tossing the Coin. Linos reached his hand out to grab the Coin, but Daolon Wong swooped in between them and seized it in his hand.

"Thank you," Wong snickered. He turned to blast Linos, knocking him back into a patio table, knocking it over. "So long, children!" Daolon Wong waved his arms and unleashed a thick cloud of smoke. When is cleared, he was nowhere to be found.

"What happened?" Mala, Mavis and Drago came running up to Linos, who had just fished Tim out of the dolphin tank.

"Wong got away with the Coin," Linos answered.

"Oh great! Did you at least see what animal it was?" Mavis asked.

"It was a shark," Tim replied.

"Man, I bet it had a cool power," Mavis lamented. "And what are the chances right? Shark Coin? Shark operation name? At least I got something out of this," she said, admiring the hunter's sword.

"Is that the hunter's?" Liam asked.

"Yup! Whoa!" she exclaimed, as the sword's blade suddenly collapsed into the handle. "I must have pressed or touched something."

"You know you can't bring that to school, right?" Tim asked.

"Tch, y-yeah, of course!" she answered after a slight hesitation before sadly pouting.

"Well, here's hoping it doesn't prove to be helpful to Wong. By the way, what is he doing here?" Linos asked, noticing Drago.

"He followed us," Mala said, with a vicious glare.

"I doubt we're going to get lucky like last time. Wong's got to have figured out to place a shielding spell on the Coin by now. I think the best thing we can do is try to take it from him the next time we encounter him," said Tim.

"So, is anyone going to bother filling me in?" Drago asked, cutting into the conversation.

"Basically, we're trying to find these thirteen Coins some Chi Wizard made way back when when he was trying to copy your old man's magic talismans before Daolon Wong gets them and does who knows what with them!" Mavis ranted.

"There you go. What we're doing in a nutshell," Linos said.

"How do you know who my father is?"

"Mala filled us in on that," Liam said.

"And I'm guessing that shrivelled up, old man was Daolon Wong?" Drago asked.

"Yes. So what is he joining us now?" Tim asked.

"Absolutely not! Let me make this clear, Drago. Don't get in our way! Just stay away from me and my friends!" Mala glared at Drago so intensely that it made him step back and hang his head low in shame. Mala formed her wings behind her and leapt into the air, disappearing into the starry sky.

"Well… this is awkward," Mavis muttered awkwardly. "We should, yeah we should go. Linos?"

"Right," he said. He wrapped his arms around Tim and Mavis' waists before taking off after Mala.

Drago watched them disappear from sight and sighed sadly. He moved over to the railing and gripped the cold steel tightly, gazing down to the dolphin below. "It's not going to be easy, is it… to get her to forgive me?" The dolphin squeaked and clicked before spitting water in Drago's face. "Yeah, that's what I thought," he groaned, wiping the water off his face.

* * *

**Well, as usual, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I encourage you to review with your thoughts, suggestions, etc.**

**Next chapter: Drago's help may be just what the group needs when TWO coins appear at the local zoo. **


	10. Animal House

**Well, with term papers fast approaching, I won't be able to write as much. But knowing me, I'll find some time in between everything. I always do need some kind of distraction while I'm doing school work. But then again, don't we all?**

* * *

"So, is it just me, or are we having a lot of field trips?" Tim asked. The four of them sat at one of the outdoor tables just outside the cafe of their local zoo. All around them, people were walking or tending to their children who were either squealing with delight or throwing a tantrum because they never wanted to leave.

"Aren't we supposed to be studying the animals for biology or something?" Liam asked.

"Please! One time, we were studying physics in class and the school booked a field trip to the amusement part. Now, what do you think we did then? Physics or ride the roller coaster until I puked?" Mavis asked.

"I'm gonna say puke," said Mala.

"Correctomundo, girlfriend!" Mavis said with a wink and thumbs up.

"I just still can't believe he's here," Mala said, angrily glaring at Drago, who sat at a nearby table. The other seats at his table were filled with girls from their grade also on the field trip. Drago simply ignored them, which only made him all the more alluring to them, much to Drago's annoyance. She could still remember when he first showed up in their class during homeroom earlier in the week.

"Class, we have a new student joining us. Please welcome, Damon Lee," the teacher had said. 'Damon Lee' was the alias Drago chose to go by. 'Drago' was the name his mother gave him, but it wasn't exactly a common name among humans. It was probably the same reason Linos chose 'Liam' as his human alias. And to say Drago's addition to the class was very receptive would be an understatement. Mala had rolled her eyes in contempt when she noticed nearly all the girls in class except for herself and Mavis practically swooning and melting at the sight of him, even though Mala knew that deep down, she reacted nearly the same way when she first saw Drago's human form for the first time.

"Mala, I know you're upset about this, but you're going to have to get over it sooner or later," Tim said. "Carrying around all this negative energy isn't going to be good for you or the team."

"And you have to admit, if he hadn't shown up at the aquarium, that hunter would have finished you," said Mavis.

"Fine! Drago saved me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to forgive him!" she argued, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Just a question here: what are you more mad about, Mala? The fact that he tried to take over the world or that he lied and tricked you into helping him?" asked Liam.

"Wha? What's the difference?" she asked.

"One's a generic anger and the other is personal. If I had to guess, I'd say you're more mad about him betraying your trust. Deep down, I think you're not mad at him for trying to take over the world," said Liam.

"It's still bad! He did a horrible thing!"

"Maybe, but you've gotta admit, for the son of Shen Du, he could have turned a lot worse. I'm talking leagues worse! Besides, we all do stupid things when we're teenagers."

"I once drove my parents' car onto the freeway when I was twelve. Don't get me wrong, it was stupid and dangerous and I was grounded for six months… but really cool," Mavis grinned.

"You know, I think I've just gotten so accustomed to you Mavis, that nothing you say surprises me anymore," said Mala.

"Ho ho, don't count your chickens before they hatch, Mala," Mavis warned.

"But back to what I was saying. When you first met Drago, he was a good kid right?"

"Yeah, he was nice and really sweet," Mala said.

"And that all changed when Shen Du took him in?" Liam asked, to which Mala nodded. "Well consider this: Shen Du is like all the other Demon Sorcerers: callous, cruel and violent, not to mention he probably hates half-breeds and wouldn't give Drago any leniency as his son."

"What's your point?" Mala asked.

"My point is, cut the guy some slack."

"Uh, you seem to be forgetting that he nearly destroyed an entire city!"

"Oh come on, Mala, how many of us haven't had our 'car on the freeway' moments? Besides, the news said the entire city was evacuated in time. It's not like he killed anyone," said Mavis. "City destroying is probably just the demon equivalent of taking our parents' car on the freeway when you're not old enough to drive!"

"If I didn't have my mother, I'd probably spend hours trying to get my dad's approval by doing stuff and acting the way he wanted me to act: like a real demon. Hot shot over there probably only turned out the way he did because he was so desperate for any attention from his old man that he completely changed his entire personality just to get a single approving glance or 'I'm proud of you, son'. I mean, imagine how different I would be if I was more like my old man!" Liam suggested.

"Don't even begin to suggest that," Tim shuddered. "We dealt with Tzan Ren once and once was enough!"

"All I'm saying, Mala, is that Drago really could have turned out a lot worse. And now he's turned over a new leaf, begging for a second chance. Come on, I know you must have read his aura and saw the same thing I did."

"Aura?" Tim asked.

Liam took out a piece of paper from his bag and scribbled down two stick figures. "Humans and demon all naturally have an aura, sort of like a life energy that can be used to tell if a person is good or bad. Demons and Chi Wizards can naturally detect and see that aura. A blue aura denotes goodness and benevolence and a red aura denotes corruption and malevolence," he explained, scribbling an outline around each stick figure in blue and red, "or in simple terms: good and evil. Now, a very powerful magic user or demon can produce a false aura to trick others, but that's a very advanced skill that only fully realized Chi Wizards and Demon Sorcerers can attain, one that I'm certain a guy like Drago doesn't have." When Mala stayed silent, Liam continued speaking, "Mala, you know I'm right about this. That guy is swimming in blue aura. If he says he's turning over a new leaf, he means it."

"Ok fine! I read his aura and he's not lying. I was so sure that it was just some kind of trick, like he was trying to fool me again."

"And now you're pissed because you were wrong about that," said Mavis.

"Even if Drago's serious about turning over a new leaf, that doesn't mean I'm just going to forgive him for everything he's done!"

"Oh, Mala, you're totally gonna fall in love," Mavis teased.

"Wh-I am not! Why would you say such a thing?"

"Oh you're gonna sooooo fall in love! Haven't you ever seen in all those movies when the girl says she hates a guy, she totally ends up falling in love with him later and the totally hook up?"

"Well, Mavis, this isn't the movies. This is real life! He betrayed me and broke my heart and I don't think I can ever trust him again!"

"Keyword: 'think'," Tim pointed out.

"Sh-shut up!"

"You're right, Mala. You're not gonna fall in love with Drago, because you're still in love with him!"

"What? Psh, you're crazy, Mavis! No wonder the other kids call you 'Crazy Mavy'." Mala protested.

"You can't pull the wool over my eyes, Mala. I've seen enough rom-coms to know when a girl in love is in denial. And you, my dear, are in deep denial, super deep."

A bright flash suddenly came from within Tim's messenger bag as he scrambled to hide the glow while fishing out the cause without drawing too much attention. "Tim, what is that?" Liam asked.

"Oh, well I did some more research after Kuang lent us his workshop and made some alterations to that tracking spell. This is my grandfather's old compass that he gave to me when I was a kid," he explained, pulling out an old compass. There was a bright green glow surrounding it, which slowly died down.

"You modified the tracking spell?" Mala asked. "I'm impressed, Tim! You'll be a full fledged Chi Wizard in no time!"

"As I was saying, I modified the tracking spell and placed it on my grandfather's compass. Now, instead of redoing the tracking spell each time we want to find the next Coin, the spell informs me when one appears. And then, the compass will lead us straight to it. If it's activating now, there must be a Coin nearby."

"Best not to do this out in the open. Come on," said Liam, as the group moved away from their table to an empty space behind the cafe. Drago noticed them leaving, and quickly abandoned the group of girls that invaded his table to follow.

"What's going on?" he asked, noticing that Mala rolled her eyes just as he joined them.

"We've got a Coin here at the zoo," explained Mavis.

"Hang on, not just one… two!" Tim exclaimed.

"Two? No freakin' way!" Mavis cried.

"Yes, yes freakin' way," Tim affirmed. "It looks like the compass is showing them at opposite sides of the park. We'll have to split up again."

Liam noticed the disgruntled expression on Mala's face and quickly spoke up. "Uh, why don't you and I hit up one end, Drago?"

"Oh, uh sure," he said.

"Great! Mavis and Tim are with me then," Mala said, as she dragged Mavis and Tim off in the direction of one of the Coins.

"Don't take it personally, hot shot," Liam said.  
"Exactly how else am I supposed to take it?" Drago asked. The boys made their way to the other direction Tim had specified when they noticed an announcement ring throughout the zoo, noting an emergency that required all guests to immediately vacate the premises.

"Well, my money's on Daolon Wong showing up," said Liam.

"At least we won't have to worry about witnesses," said Drago. The duo ducked behind a corner and shifted into their demon forms. "So, you're a demon too? I didn't think there were any other demons still in this world."

"Yeah, son of Tzan Ren and Hsian Ji," Linos replied.

"So you're not half like me and Mala?"

"No, but I wasn't like the Demon Sorcerers and let's just say that that didn't float well with my father."

"Heh, I know the feeling. But most demons left on Earth are half-human. How'd you wind up here?" Drago asked.

"Well, my father and I had a disagreement. He said that if I liked watching the humans so much, I might as well live among them. It wasn't so much of me coming here as him throwing me out in banishment."

"Oh, so you didn't change yourself to get your father's approval?"

"Why would I do that? I'm me, not my father and I'd never try to be him. Besides, my father tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Why would I want his approval?" Linos explained as Drago remained silent.

"So how are we supposed to find this Coin?" Drago asked, looking around the surrounding trees and bushes for anything shiny.

"You're not." From the canopy above dropped the hunter, who landed before them. "You caught me off guard last time, fire demon, but that won't happen again!" The hunter glared, drawing a collapsible katana.

"You picked the wrong demons to mess with!" Drago growled.

* * *

"Man, people really clear out fast!" Mavis exclaimed. "Hm, what to call this one… how about Operation: Animal House? You know, cuz we in a zoo? And there's animals? Huh?"

"We get it, Mavis. Let's get to finding that Coin before Daolon… Wong… shows up," Tim slowly muttered, noticing the Dark Chi Wizard appear before them.

"Tim!" Mavis scolded.

"I know, I know! I'm sorry!"

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore to find you everywhere I go. You children should just give up! The Coins are as good as mine!" Wong declared, clenching his fist tightly.

"You only got one Coin, Daolon Wrong!" Mavis shouted.

"My name is Daolon Wong!"

"Sorry, what was that?" Mavis asked, turning her ear towards him and cupping it with her hand.

"Daolon Wong!"

"Daolon Wrong?"

"Wong!"

"Wrong?"

"Argh, insufferable child!" he cursed, firing a dark energy blast at them.

The three of them managed to dive out of the way. "I'll handle Wong. You two look for that Coin!"

"Roger that! Let's bounce, Tim!" Mavis cried, grabbing the collar of Tim's blazer.

"I suppose I should be thanking that demon hunter. His interference has turned out to be beneficial to me. Even as I speak, he's engaging your other two demon friends on the other side of the park," Wong said.

"Only one of them is my friend!" Mala spat.

"Ok, it should be around here…" Tim said, as he and Mavis approached and large and elaborate fountain.

"Oh come on!" Mavis exclaimed. "Can't that compass narrow it down any further?"

"Unfortunately no. This is as close the compass'll get us. Well, go on," Tim ushered.

"Come again for Callahan? Why do I have to go into the freezing cold water?"

"Because I'm the behind-the-scenes guy who led us to the Coin in the first place! That's why!" But when Mavis wouldn't budge, Tim added, "There's a plate of my mom's apple pie in it for you."

"You've got yourself a deal!" Mavis eagerly chirped. She took off her boots and socks and rolled up her pants to her knees before slowly stepping into the fountain. "Cold, cold, cold, cold," she repeated in a weak and shivering mutter. She bent down and dipped her hands into the freezing water, searching for a silver coin with an animal insignia. "I can't feel my toes!"

"Let the thought of apple pie guide you!"

"Mmmmmm, apple pie," Mavis hummed, licking her lips as her mouth instantly watered. "Oh, oh I think I found it! Weird shape for a coin and looks like a bear," she said, stepping out of the fountain and handing the wet metal to Tim.

"Yeah, you don't see many square shaped coins nowadays. Let's get back to Mala and see if we can regroup with Linos and Drago to find the other one." They made their way back to Mala, only to see her ducking behind a crystal wall that was barely managing to shield her from Daolon Wong's spells. "Mala!" Tim shouted, tossing her the Coin.

Mala looked up when she heard Tim call her name. He caught the incoming Coin in the palm of her hand in time. She glanced at the back of the Coin, reading the inscription before smiling. She dissolved the crystal wall she hid behind and addressed Wong. "Hey, look what I've got!"

"The Bear Coin!" Wong gasped.

"Come and get it!" Mala taunted. Daolon Wong narrowed his eyes and rushed towards her, firing dark energy spells at her as he went, all of which she blocked with her raised arms. Just as Daolon Wong got close enough, Mala took a step back and brought her fist right into Wong's gut. The hit was so strong that it sent him flying all the way to the other side of the zoo grounds.

"Whoa! Hold the freakin' phone! Since when were you that strong?" Mavis cried.

"Since you handed me this," Mala said, tossing the square coin to Mavis. "Strength of the bear."

"Ah yeah! Super strength!" Mavis beamed, excitedly grasping the Coin.

"Well, the fight's not over yet. According to what Daolon Wong said, that hunter is here and fighting Drago and Linos. We should get to them right away," Tim said.

* * *

Daolon Wong landed in a large pond with a great splash of water. When he resurfaced, he took a deep breath of air and while coughing the water out of his lungs. A few feet away on land, he noticed the two demons battling the demon hunter and grinned. "Well, at least I won't have to deal with those annoying children." Wong looked down at his staff as he noticed it beginning to glow. "The other Coin? It's here somewhere!" He dug into his robes and pulled out the eight-sided Shark Coin he managed to take. "Looks like you might be of some use to me after all." Wong squeezed the Coin tightly in his hand, activating its power. Gills suddenly sprouted on his neck as did webbing between his fingers. Wong dove into the water and held out his staff, letting the glow it emitted guide him to the Coin. The glow gradually became larger and brighter and Wong noticed something shining at the bottom of the pond. He picked up the tiny object and examined the coin in his hands. It was a smooth, round coin with a turquoise chameleon. "Excellent," he muttered with a wide grin.

When he exited the pond and dried himself off with a spell, he took a closer look at the back of the Chameleon Coin. "Skin of the chameleon," he read aloud, "let's see what that means." He removed the Shark Coin from his hand, causing his gills and webbed hands to disappear, and replaced it with the Chameleon Coin. When he felt its power activate, he looked down at his hands and noticed he was nearly invisible. "Heh, camouflage. It's not perfect invisibility like the Snake Talisman, but it will do," he commented. When he noticed Mala and the two humans in the distance getting closer, Wong slipped away.

"What happened?" Tim asked as they met up with Linos and Drago.

"The demon hunter showed up. We managed to fight him off though; he probably bailed when things got too hot for him," said Drago.

"Have you found the Coin yet?" Mala asked.

"We were too busy fighting the hunter!" Linos added.

"Uh oh…" Tim muttered.

"Excuse me, 'uh oh'? That's not good. People only ever say 'uh oh' when something bad's happened!" Mavis exclaimed.

"Yeah, the second Coin is gone. My compass isn't picking it up!"

"Wong must have gotten it while you were fighting the hunter! You should have paid attention!" Mala scolded, particularly focusing on Drago as she spoke.

"Now hang on, Mala, you can't blame only Drago for that. I was just as focused on fighting that hunter. It's not like he was going to let us take a time out to look for the Coin," Linos said, defending Drago. Knowing Linos was right, Mala gritted her teeth and simply remained silent while Drago did the same, not wanting to have Mala hate him more than she already did by arguing with her.

"Great, so we lost one Coin. At least we managed to get the other one!" Mavis beamed, changing the subject in hopes of lightening the mood.

"So which is this one?" Linos asked as Mavis handed him the Coin for him and Drago to see.

"Super strength," Mavis replied. "Hey, everyone lighten up, ok? All this negative stuff is really bumming me out and when Callahan ain't happy, no one is happy."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Tim silently muttered.

"Come on, look at the big picture! We're 6-2 out of thirteen! We're still in the lead by a huge margin!"

"She's right. Let's just hope that Daolon Wong doesn't keep getting lucky and that the Coins he does have don't do him much good," said Linos.

* * *

**Next chapter: The group enters the sewers - which may or may not be infested with sewer gators - to find the next Coin. However, there is something lurking in the sewers that the teens will have trouble facing.**


End file.
